
E QUEST OF THE TREASURE BOX 






I 




rf 



Ao Absorbing Tale of Intrigue and Adventure, Depictfng in Graphic 
the Struggle for the Chieftainship of the Fre> Rangers. 




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Class JL 



GqjpghtN?. 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSfT. 



Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 




V 




NIMBLY HURTLING OVER THE SEVEN-FOOT FENCE 



TERRIBLE TEDDY 

AND 

PEACEFUL BILL 



OR 



The Quest of the Treasure Box 



BY 

H-L.SAYLER 



ILLUSTRATED BY FRANCIS GALLUP 



The King: 

" Is there no offence in'tf " 

U AM LET : 

" No, no, they do but jest ; 
No offense i' the world." 



CHICAGO 

THE REILLY & BRITTON CO- 
PUBLISHERS 



• S*7 




UBHARY of 0ON6«?KS3. 
J Two Copies Recaivtx 

APR 2 1^00 

S*4 XAC. No, 

•2 o 3 2 3fr 
COPY S u 



[1< 



Copyright, 1908, 

By 

The Eeilly & Britton Co. 



All right 8 reserved. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I The Explosion in the Big Corral 1 1 

II Tlie Compact by Night 17 

III Foiled 24 

IV The Attack by False Alarm Joe , 32 

V The Ides of June Are Not Yet 40 

VI The Chase by Night and the Escape . . 46 

VII The Inventory 51 

VIII The Camp in the Valley 56 

IX Peaceful Bill's Ordeal 60 

X Billy Whiskers' Round-Up 65 

XI Treasure for Ballast 70 

XII A Near Dash to Death 76 

XIII Among the Mocrats 81 

XIV The Defiance of Big Smoke 86 

XV The Mystery 91 

XVI A Few Scalps 97 

XVII Buttermilk Charley's Blind Pig 103 

vii 



CHAPTER PAGE 

XVIII Money Talks 'Round Here no 

XIX The Gap in the Barrier 115 

XX The Youthful Adventurers 121 

XXI The National Burlesquers 126 

XXII Old Shucks, the Detective 134 

XXIII The Hole in the Wall 140 

XXIV Badger Bob 146 

XXV What Took Place in the Coulee .... 153 

XXVI A Deal in the Dark 159 

XXVII At Last 166 

XXVIII Foiled Again 173 

XXIX The Round-Up 178 



Vlll 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

PACT. 
Nimbly hurtling over the seven- foot fence Frontispiece 

I c Not so fast, I 've got the drop on ye! ". 29 

"Look behind! " roared the trapped renegade 35 

"And now to have another look at the swag" 43 

"Curses on him," said Terrible Teddy as Silver Bill shot 

upward 49 

"Cow punchers, greasers, Injuns and half breeds, M said 

Billy Whiskers 67 

Yon Yonson 79 

Silver Bill shows Big Smoke the recovered chart 83 

Rough Deal George imparts the secret to Faithful Tim. .. 95 

I I Now, my good man, you are in my power ' • 105 

" 'Tis I, Young Albert, the boy Orator" 119 

Randy and Artie disguised as burlesquers fool Silver Bill. 131 

Old Shucks shadows a certain party 137 

Badger Bob submits to an interview 149 

Old Rich gives orders to Pittsburg Phil and Eli Hew 155 

Old Joke Annon was still standing pat 163 

"Great Scott! Bunkoed!" , 169 

ix 



Terrible Teddy [and Peaceful Bill; 

OR. 

The Quest of the Treasure Box. 



CHAPTER I 

i 
THE EXPLOSION IN THE BIG CORRAL 

Boom! 

The sound of a terrific explosion reverberated 
through the night air. 

Ere it had died away the tense athletic figure of 
a man came nimbly hurtling over the seven-foot 
fence of the Big Corral. 

''Jumping delegates !" 

Terrible Teddy, the Chief of the Rangers, almost 
spurning the Earth, rushed forward. 

"Jumping delegates !" 

Once again these muttered words came from the 
man as- his eyes sought to pierce the gloom. 

ll 



12 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

"Something doing — but where?" 

This ejaculation had scarce escaped his lips when 
a low moan met his ear. 

He could not be mistaken and he knew it. 

"Elusive bears," he whistled, "a human voice." 

Hastily throwing himself upon the ground, he 
listened intently for a brief moment. 

His face paled. 

He had immediately detected that which seemed 
to unnerve him. 

"Pray Heaven it portend no danger to Peaceful 
Bill," he whispered hoarsely. "He should be on 
his way here now." 

The trained ear of the prostrate man had detected 
at once that which might easily have been over- 
looked by one not listening. 

It was a low, distant rumble, as if some Cyclopean 
agent of the night were abroad. 

Terrible Teddy arose and once again sought to 
draw forth the secret of the darkness with the eye 
from which Nature herself seemed able to conceal 
nothing. 

"Help! Help! Will no one help me?" 

This time there could be no mistake. 



Explosion in the Big Corral 13 

Terrible Teddy whirled in the direction whence 
the sound emanated. 

No, there was no mistake. 

The trouble, whatever it was, came from close by. 

It was in his own Corral ! 

To think, with him, was to speak. 

"Onless I'm mistaken, and I ain't never ben yit, 
thet rumpus was nigh to Rough Deal George's 
shack." 

As he audibly enunciated these words, the face 
of the speaker parted in a smile. 

A soft glow of light suffused the scene, but as 
the parted rift closed again and the bank of ivory 
white within disappeared, darkness again fell 
over all. 

"Ef Rough Deal George hes ben a-meddlin' with 
them bombs I allow as how he's properbly past 
meddlin' now." 

Another moment and the speaker would have 
reentered the Big Corral. 

But, in the interim, a pale, haunted being of short, 
boyish figure emerged hastily and threw itself at 
the feet of the Chief Ranger. 

It was Little Willy, the 'prentice ranger. 



14 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

"I done it, I done it." 

"You never dun nothin' and ain't no business to," 
retorted the Terrible Teddy. 

"You didn't do it," wailed the kneeling 'prentice. 

"Ef I oughtn't, I will." 

Hurling from him these sententious words, the 
riled ranger sprang within the Corral again. 

Rough Deal George was the paymaster of the 
"outfit." 

His own shack was not far from the main Bunk 
House. Something took Terrible Teddy thither at 
once. 

It was his feet. 

His worst hopes were instantly confirmed. Rough 
Deal George, stunned and speechless, lay uncon- 
scious in the moonlight. 

"He had his warnin's," muttered the Boss of 
the Corral. "Thank Heaven it wasn't Peaceful 
Bill." 

"Plum locoed." 

It was the still small voice of the 'prentice Willy. 

Was it pity that marked the face of Terrible 
Teddy? 

Not perceptibly. 



Explosion in the Big Corral 15 

"I was doin' a little work over in the bomb house," 
hastily said the 'prentice ranger, by way of expla- 
nation, "when along comes Rough Deal George. 
He says, 'What bombs is them, kid ?' 

" 'Not none o' yours,' I says. 

" 'Ain't they ? And why not as well as any 
feller's?' he says. 

" ' 'Cause,' I says, the're special, and they ain't 
but one o' them as is safe. Anyway, you had a-better 
keep out' " 

"Why didn't you lock 'em up?" 

Something in Terrible Teddy's face betokened ill 
to the little 'prentice. 

Was it a corn that made him shift his foot? 

"I hid the good one, boss!" 

The shifting foot settled. 

A cachinnating sound rose and filled the circum- 
ambient air. 

"Shall I sweep him up?" 

"There ain't enough left, lad. And so young, too. 
But he had his warnin's. And I allow as all others 
as attempts to git into that thar bomb house is 
a-goin' to git the same medicine." 

"I allow," cackled the little 'prentice. 



1 6 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

"Gimme the key — I'll take no more chances." 

And with these words and the key, Terrible 
Teddy strode away into the gloom. 

Left alone, the recumbent figure of Rough Deal 
George lay stiff and cold. 

Apparently. 

When the coast was clear, an eye slowly opened. 

Then the lips moved. 

"A bluff for your life/' ejaculated the supposed 
corpse. "And now to pick the lock." 



CHAPTER II 



THE COMPACT BY NIGHT 

While the events narrated in the previous chapter 
were rapidly transpiring, the distant rumble that the 
trained ear of Terrible Teddy had detected but a 
few moments since was growing louder and louder. 

The tense, leonine figure of an expectant indi- 
vidual suddenly emerged from the Big Corral. 

Gradually the gathering rumble ran into a roar. 

Then the ground began to tremble. 

The rich verdure about the Big Corral shook as 
the earth rose and fell. 

It was apparent that somewhere in the vicinity 
an avalanche was afoot. 

Then the roar broadened into an engulfing 
pandemonium. 

Clouds of dust rose upon the gathering cyclone. 
17 



1 8 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

Something came between the hitherto refulgent 
moon and the illumined plain, and, without other 
sign of his approach, a rollicking, rotund figure 
dashed slowly up to the Corral, 

As the big broncho sprang lightly from under the 
rider, the solitary horseman heaved a sigh of relief. 

Peaceful Bill, for such indeed the new arrival 
was, scanned every inch of ground in front of him. 

He was too tired to look behind. 

"Home again," the big, large man muttered. 
"And nothing doing." 

He would have passed at once into the Corral. 

"Halt!" 

The monosyllabic word rang out sharply in the 
night air. 

The plethoric, Porthosonian form of Peaceful Bill 
responded with the alacrity of one not unused to 
thin ice. 

"The countersign!" 

"Yours to command." 

Was it a smile that seemed to form and then 
instantly flee from Peaceful Bill's face? 

Perish the thought ! 

And yet, one traveling in the environs of Peace- 



The Compact by Night 19 

ful Bill's rear might have seen that which Terrible 
Teddy did not observe. 

On each hand, both of which the newcomer kept 
carefully behind him, the second finger had been 
elevated and then laid snugly across the index digit. 

"Yours to command," repeated the portly new 
arrival. 

As he did so a tremor as faint as the evanescent 
smile ran through the crossed fingers. 

"You bet! What news from the camp of the 
Free Rangers?" 

"Not so loud," exclaimed the Brobdingnagian 
Bill. 

"Not so loud?" roared the quick, hasty voice of 
Terrible Teddy, for it was the terror and erstwhile 
leader of the Free Rangers who spoke. "I know 
no such words as these." 

"I am followed." 

These words came slowly and with difficulty from 
the hidden recesses of Peaceful Bill's deep-seated 
glottis. 

"They are close behind me." 
• • A quiet wince passed over the stranger's face. 

"You can aid me if you will." 



20 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

As he pronounced these words with feeling, his 
fingers uncrossed. 

"Who dares to trail the pal and chosen successor 
of the Big Chief?" 

"The renegade of the Free Rangers, False Alarm 
Joe!" 

"False Alarm Joe! Wat's eatin' ye, Bill? You 
ain't no call to be a-skeered o' him. He ain't got 
no weepins, Bill. Besides, ain't I told ye I'd take 
keer o' ye?" 

"I allow ye did, pardner, and thank ye fur it." 

"Then assemble at some given p'int and come in. 
I got sompin to show ye." 

Suiting the action to the word, the two Rangers 
passed with reasonable alacrity into the Big Corral. 

But 

What shadow was that before the bomb house 
door? 

Whatever it was, it was unobserved by Peaceful 
Bill. 

He had his eyes on his friend, Terrible Teddy. 

And Terrible Teddy, lost for the moment in the 
shadow of the moving mass behind him, for once 
in his life overlooked a bet. 



The Compact by Night 21 

Rough Deal George, throwing himself again 
among the ruins of his shack, smiled bitterly. 

"Now to dissemble/' he muttered. 

In another moment Peaceful Bill was gazing upon 
the dead one before him. 

"Can this be true?'' he asked, with feeling. 

For a moment his round adiposity shook — in 
spots — with emotion. 

The cold, frigid figure of Terrible Teddy made 
answer: 

"Bill, don't you worry. He did it hisself. Take 
warnin'. Let me handle all the bombs around this 
'ere Corral." 

Peaceful Bill made signs as if he would bow in 
gratitude. 

"Sure I will, old pardner. And now for what 
you're a-goin* to give me." 

"Not so fast, Peaceful Bill; not so fast. Maybe 
the chief of the Free Rangers is all ready to quit 
and turn the Corral over to ye, — but not so fast ! 
What I've got's mine, ain't it?" 

"Nary a word, Bill. I've got all the maps, plans, 
specerfications and vallebles in the strong box, — not 



22 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

sayin' as whar I got 'em. If I'm a mind to part 
with some o' my little treasures to Peaceful Bill, — 
some o' my little idees, — wait till I'm a-good an' 
ready." 

"But gimme sompin, pardner. I got to make 
some kind of a show down thar among the other 
Rangers." 

"And ef I don't?" 

That portion of Peaceful Bill's frame that was 
in line of vision heaved as if moved by some 
ill-concealed emotion. 

His transposed digits righted themselves and then 
almost as quickly assembled themselves in blocks 
of five. 

But Terrible Teddy saw nothing. 

"And ef I don't, Bill?" he repeated. 

Peaceful Bill was himself again. 

He smiled. 

"Ef ye don't I allow I ain't goin' to be in it." 

Had Terrible Teddy tumbled ? 

Apparently not. 

"What'll it be, Bill?" he asked, jovially. . 

"Anything, pardner,— anything to make a flash 
with the boys, . You know I " •. ■ - . ■. - . : • : . • ■= 



The Compact by Night 23 

"Have a care, Bill, how you cross me. You don't 
claim none of 'em, do you ?" 

Peaceful Bill hesitated for a moment. 

Then he spoke. 

Silver Bill Brennings says " 

"Damn Silver Bill!" 

"Amen." 

For a brief interval nothing more was said. 

All was still as death. 

Then 

"What was that?" 

Terrible Teddy had broken the spell. 

"Only silence," answered the man before him. 

"No wonder I didn't recognize it," rejoined his 
fellow-speaker. "And now for our little com- 
pact " 

"We'll have a look at the swag!" 

As Peaceful Bill pronounced these words there 
was an eager glint in his eyes. 

The two men passed quickly into the Bunk House 
lot. 

All seemed well ! 

But was it so ? 

We shall see ! < 



CHAPTER III 



FOILED 



As Terrible Teddy quickly closed the door of the 
Bunk House, a cloaked figure wearing a sinister 
smile hastily lighted a cigarette and then sped like a 
shadow from an obscure recess of the Big Corral 
to a convenient station near the Bunk House 
window. 

Apparently the figure was in disguise. 

Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill were being 
watched. 

Little they knew it. 

A light flickered within. 

"Aha!" 

Terrible Teddy abstracted from its hiding-place 
a strong) well-bound box. 

"Aha!" repeated the figure without, lighting a 
fresh cigarette; -"all goes well. Would that this 

24 



Foiled 25 

night's work were done — cigarettes don't agree 
with me. But here goes " 

As he lighted another cigarette, from his coign 
of vantage the cloaked figure saw the eyes of Peace- 
ful Bill relight with the same eager glint previous- 
ly alluded to. 

Or, was it anxiety? 

In the gloom without, a cloud of fresh cigarette 
smoke filled the air, and the observant figure of the 
sleuthful spectator made a swift, silent motion. 

Something glittered in his hand. 

There was a passing glare of silver. 

A sudden sound stole through the window. 

"Bill," roared Terrible Teddy, "here she is!" 

He had opened up the Treasure Box. 

On the lid could be seen this brand : 

"My Policies." 

"I ain't got this loot soft-handed, Bill," roared 
the speaker cautiously. 

The man without breathed hard. 

"But, soft-handed or not, I got it. And purty 
soon I ain't a-goin' to hev no more use fur it. 
More'n one o' yer friends 'd be glad to hev w'at's 
in this box, Bill. But they don't git it. Whar it 



26 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

goes, I bestows it. Bill, I'm a-goin' to give it all to 
you!" 

"All?" exclaimed Bill, with premonitions of a 
start; "not all, pardner! All them riches is too 
temptin'. And w'at am I a-goin' to do ag'in certain 
parties with all o' them vallebles on my person ! You 
know he " 

"You mean Silver Bill Brennings?" 

"He says the're stole !" 

"Silence. Am I a-feered?" 

"But ye ain't a-goin' to use 'em!" 

"Ain't I?" 

Peaceful Bill's brow rained cold sweat. 

These were new words from his superior. 

"Well, can't ye gimme jist a few — a little bit? 
Gimme them Trust and Railroad things. Them'll 
be a-plenty — now." 

Terrible Teddy's ringers played lovingly on the 
box lid. 

"He little knows," murmured Peaceful Bill, aside, 
"that I've been out a-foragin' myself." 

"All or none, Bill !" 

"Aha!" whispered the crouched figure without, 
lighting another cigarette. "At last — the stolen 



Foiled 27 

goods. My own property at last. They little 
surmise who's here." 

Even the fear of certain parties, latent in the 
breast of the conservative but avaricious Peaceful 
Bill, was not strong enough. 

He succumbed. 

'Til take 'em, pardner." 

Two itching palms, with fingers now uncrossed, 
came hastily downward to grasp the treasure trove. 

Bang! 

The sharp crack of a deadly firearm rang through 
the cigarette-laden air of the Big Corral. 

"Thank Heaven, this is over! ,, 

Hastily lighting and exhausting his last cigarette, 
the dark, stern stranger dashed the butt of it to the 
ground. 

Freed of this duty, the figure sprang swiftly 
forward. 

Within the Bunk House the Treasure Box fell 
with a crash from the hands of its owner. 

"Curses!" 
• As Terrible Teddy hurled forth this objurgation, 
Peaceful Bill made preliminary preparations for a 
subsequent flight. 



28 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

He did not care to be caught with the goods. 

There was a sudden crash, and the bolted door 
fell in. 

Bolts were nothing new to the cloaked individual 
who now thrust his frame into the room. 

"Not so fast, my fat friend. I've got the drop 
on ye. Now for w'at's mine by good rights." 

Ere the trapped conspirators could move hand or 
foot — or even body — the dark, dashing stranger 
lunged forward. 

With a fierce cry of defiance, he caught up the 
box with its coveted contents and made a quick 
dash for the door. 

A moment more and he would have escaped in 
safety. 

But, in that fatal moment, he had discovered one 
more cigarette. 

Hastily lighting and consuming it with feverish 
impetuosity, he dashed the golden tip in the enraged 
faces of his victims, and hissed : 

"Foiled !" , 

Annoyed at this unwarranted delay, the tenser 
and more athletic of the two trapped rangers 
exclaimed petulantly: 



30 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

"Are ye ready?" 

Clearing his throat, the stranger remarked : 

"Quite ready — let her go." 

"Then," roared Terrible Teddy — for it was he 
who spoke — 

"Who are you?" 

"Silver Bill Brennings." 

The clearly enunciated reply to the interrogatory 
fell upon Peaceful Bill's ears like the warning of 
a new money panic. 

"Now for the wind-up," Silver Bill hastily ejacu- 
lated, "and get it over — something tells me we are 
losing time." 

"Evil eminence of infamy, saffron-blooded ape, 
slime-brained son of the Salt Creek headwaters, 
drop that 'ere box." 

"Wat's in this 'ere box," hissed Silver Bill Bren- 
nings, for it was indeed that dreaded outlaw who 
spoke, "is all mine by good rights. Thar ain't a 
scrap or shred in this 'ere box, Terrible Teddy, thet 
you ain't stole frum me. I ben a-watchin' fur this 
chanst fur eight year, and it ain't never come till 
now. I allowed all along as how sometime you'd 
try to dispose o' the stolen goods. And now I've 



Foiled 3 1 

ketched ye a-turnin' 'em over to this pal o' yours. 
I tell ye to your teeth — which is goin' some — that 
the goods is mine. Allons" 

"Web of corruption — mollycoddle," roared Ter- 
rible Teddy, " you lie— they ain't shore all yours." 

"Meet me before three thousand people and I'll 
answer ye," challenged Silver Bill. 

"As for you, Peaceful Bill, I'll see you later— I 
hope." 

"Is that a threat or a promise?" 

It was Peaceful Bill speaking for himself. 

In another instant — nay, even in the same instant 
— the man with the Treasure Box was gone. 

He had vanished as completely as if the ground 
had opened and swallowed him. 

Where Silver Bill had given the gauge of defiance, 
only the east wind now soughed mournfully. 

"Saved!" 

It was the grateful voice of Peaceful Bill. 



CHAPTER IV 



THE ATTACK BY FALSE ALARM JOE 

"Stop!" 

"Another step and you are a dead one !" 

The retreating figure of a man who was stealthily 
and rapidly hurrying onward through the black, 
ebon shadows of the Big Corral, came instantly to 
a halt. 

The man thus addressed knew well enough the 
penalty of failure to observe this terse injunction. 

Silver Bill Brennings — for the man thus brought 
to a summary pause was no other than that famed 
Renegade — had no use for injunctions. 

But something in the tone of the individual close 
upon his heels warned him that these simple words 
constituted no idle threat. 

Strategy was the word. 

32 



'Attack by False Alarm Joe 33 

Instantly his arms went into the air. 

"I've taken a drop myself, Silver Bill," roared 
his captor, Terrible Teddy. 

"You thought to escape me. Foolish man ! Now 
fork over that box, and be quick about it. My 
friend Bill is waitin'." 

Silver Bill, beaten but by no means discouraged, 
was sparring for wind. 

He did not fear death. 

To be called was another matter. 

But even in the extremity of his predicament 
the veteran campaigner did not lose his head. 

What sudden sound was that? 

Even as Terrible Teddy advanced upon his cap- 
tive, the basilisk eye of Silver Bill had detected 
something. 

Suddenly Silver Bill's attitude changed. 

Fortunately for him, that which he had detected 
his captors could not note. 

It was no less than the figure of a fourth man, 
a black mask covering his face to the chin, creeping 
snakelike across the corral. 

The masked figure was already close upon the 
advancing form of Peaceful Bill, who had slowly 



34 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

but surely extricated himself from the nearby Bunk 
House and given signs of ultimately arriving on the 
scene of the present holdup. 

The astute, artful Silver Bill had recognized at 
once False Alarm Joe, Peaceful Bill's deadliest 
enemy. 

Fate had sent him help when he most needed it. 

In the period while Peaceful Bill was congre- 
gating in the vicinity, Silver Bill had plenty of time 
to form his plan of action. 

He was ready. 

Terrible Teddy spoke again : 

"Fork over, and then git! Mine or not, them 
goods is a-goin' to be Bill's/' 

"Look behind!" roared the trapped Renegade. 

These bullet-like words came from him like shot. 

In less time than it takes to write it, False Alarm 
Joe, Peaceful Bill's Nemesis, had measured his 
ground and lunged forward. 

But, ere the keen-edged knife in his hand could 
find its way into the vicinity of Peaceful Bill's 
vitals, Silver Bill had sounded the alarm. 

At the word the Renegade's captors whirled in 
their tracks. 




LOOK BEHIND!" ROARED THE TRAPPED RENEGADE 



36 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

They were almost too late. 

Trembling in nearly every limb, Peaceful Bill 
took steps to readjust his position. 

False Alarm Joe, thwarted of his prey, made one 
spring into the empty air, and the combat was over. 

In the rush of the conflict, the two men went to 
the earth together. 

But Peaceful Bill was on top. 

"Help him, Teddy." 

The three words emanated from the sympathetic 
but artful Silver Bill. 

With a muffled curse, Terrible Teddy sprang 
instantly to the assistance of his pal. 

For the moment he had forgotten the stolen loot. 

He had impolitely and impolitically left Silver 
Bill standing with his arms in the air. 

In the new danger the Chief of the Rangers 
thought only of the foe, now beneath Peaceful Bill. 

"Don't you bother about this 'ere bloke," panted 
Peaceful Bill; "I kin handle him." 

As he gave signs of doing so with neatness and 
dispatch, the prostrate man beneath him made mo- 
tions as if he would speak. 



'Attack by False Alarm Joe 37 

"Watch your stuff, boys," he groaned; "that 
feller's a-gettin' away with the swag." 

"Git your eye on Silver Bill, Teddy. He'll take it 
all. Don't let him git away. As fer you, False 
Alarm Joe, I know ye now. That fer you !" 

Throwing one ponderous leg on the down-and- 
out Joe, Peaceful Bill in bitterness ground his enemy 
beneath him. 

But False Alarm Joe's gurgled words of warning 
had other meaning for Terrible Teddy. 

He was determined that Peaceful Bill should not 
escape his generous gift. 

A quick glance told him all. 

False Alarm Joe's attack had given the resource- 
ful Silver Bill the one moment he needed. 

Quickly as these narrated events transpired, the 
interval that intervened was sufficient. 

Instantly recovering the precious box and him- 
self, the crafty Renegade of Salt River had thrown 
himself into the deep shadow made by Peaceful 
Bill's body, and, making a quick detour therein, 
unseen by the Chief Ranger, he dashed from the 
Big Corral. 



38 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

His old and worn but faithful broncho, Free 
Silver, was waiting his master. 

There was the sudden clatter of hoofs. 

It told all. 

Although Terrible Terry followed like the wind, 
he was too late. 

Down the long level trail, stretching like a ribbon 
in the moonlight, Silver Bill's broncho was already 
putting possible pursuers far behind him. 

With long, easy strides, the old animal was fast 
disappearing. 

Was Terrible Teddy daunted? 

No! 

But there was no time for delay. 

" 'Tend to him, Bill," he shouted. 

Catching up a lariat, he roped a broncho with a 
swift, skilled motion. 

In the twinkle of an eye he had thrown himself 
upon the animal's back, prepared for the chase. 

"Eat him up, Bill," he roared again, and then, 
with a few preliminary leaps over the seven-foot 
corral to see that Big Stick, his favorite broncho, 
was in form, he headed straight for the enemy. 

The chesty Big Stick had his work cut out. 



Attack by False Alarm Joe 39 

Would he overtake Silver Bill ? 

Was it a chase to the death ? 

The tense, taut figure of the man on Big Stick's 
back suddenly threw itself back. 

Terrible Teddy had not failed to note, in his 
bullet-like flight, a familiar object by the trail. 

It was a flashlight photographer. 

"Hounded on all sides," roared Terrible Teddy, 
throwing Big Stick into his most artistic position 
and muttering a silent prayer of gratitude. 

"Minion, do your worst !" 

A few quick motions, and the deed was done. 

"Remember," roared Terrible Teddy, "you are 
to use only the worst negatives!" 

He was off again like a flash. 

"And now," enunciated the doughty rider, deci- 
sively, "me for Silver Bill, curses on him !" 



CHAPTER V 

THE IDES OF JUNE ARE NOT YET 

But where was Silver Bill Brennings while these 
events were taking place ? 

Flecked with foam, old Free Silver had covered 
the ground like the wind. 

Bits of froth here and there marked his onward 
course. 

Then these, lasting but a moment, disappeared, 
and there was no sign to mark where the desperate 
rider had passed. 

Ever and anon Silver Bill, casting his eyes 
behind, would murmur: 

"Aha ! Mine at last ! All mine !" 

And so an hour sped. 

Terrible Teddy had a bad start. 

Big Stick was more than a match for old Free 
Silver, but the odds were great. 

Perhaps they were too great! 

Anyway, it was no cinch. 
40 



The Ides of June Are Not Yet 41 

On and on, into the dark night, scarce knowing 
his destination, old Free Silver plunged forward. 

Silver Bill gave the animal free rein. 

At last the limit of endurance had been reached. 

Even at the cost of being overtaken, the bold 
Renegade knew that he must give his steed rest. 

To his delight, Silver Bill found himself near a 
spot familiar to him. 

He was fast approaching the edge of a giant 
chasm. 

Twice before, in his adventurous career, the old 
freebooter had dashed over its deceitful verge, only 
to find himself plunging and crashing down its 
craggy and jagged sides. 

Twice he had just escaped with his life. 

Was he about to plunge once again into the 
almost bottomless abyss ? 

One eye slowly closed and opened, and he smiled. 

Why? 

He could already discern, on the edge of the 
distant chasm, a dark, round object moving to and 
fro in the night breeze. 

It swayed and plunged like some tethered shape 
seeking to free itself. 



42 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

A few strides more and Silver Bill knew that he 
would be safe. 

But would old Free Silver last? 

He would not ! 

Struggling against desperate odds, the old animal 
did his best. 

But the effort was too much. 

Without a sound to mark his end, old Free Silver 
suddenly sank to the earth. 

Silver Bill was unhorsed. 

"He certainly was good to me," mused the dis- 
mounted rider, giving the old animal a swift kick 
to make sure he was really dead. "I've had him 
since '88. But he got me the swag, all right." 

In feverish excitement, and apparently forgetting 
for the moment that he was yet in the enemy's coun- 
try, Silver Bill drew forth the precious box. 

"And now," he muttered, "to have another look 
at the swag." 

In another moment he had torn open the box 
and dumped its contents on the ground. 

Documents, speeches, essays, plans, maps, projects 
— papers of all kinds — lay heaped in confusion. 




'AND NOW TO HAVE ANOTHER LOOK AT THE SWAG" 



44 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

Like a miser, Silver Bill fell on his knees and 
plunged his hands into the mass. 

His black, beady eyes flashed silver. 

His jaw rose and fell automatically. 

But he said nothing. 

"Aha," he exclaimed at last, "here they are — 
stolen from me, and mine again." 

His ruthless heels grinding other papers beneath 
them, Silver Bill grasped two charts. 

"Mine again," he yelled in glee. 

With these words, he waved above him what 
were apparently the charts to some hidden treasure. 

One was labeled "Railroad Supervision" and the 
other "Trust Regulation." 

In another moment these documents would have 
been safely beneath his black serape. 

But what sound was that? 

Was it the premonitory sighing that marks the 
volcaniferous prairie fire? 

Was it the first reading-notice of a coming 
Kansas cyclone? 

No. 

It might have been the champing hoofs of a 
million buffaloes. 



The Ides of June Are Not Yet 45 

But it was this : 

With a break of white in the gloom, and to the 
awful, dismaying roar of Big Stick's reverberating 
hoofs, Terrible Teddy had swooped down upon 
Silver Bill. 

The chief of the Big Corral was himself again. 

Was Silver Bill to be thwarted after all? 

In the instant that sped as the crafty veterans 
faced each other in the cold moonlight, Silver Bill 
thought quick and fast. 

Skilfully and adroitly concealing the precious 
"Trust Regulation" under his serape, with a swift, 
surreptitious motion, he thrust the "Railroad Super- 
vision" chart into the moonlight, and then hurled 
it from him. 

"You win again, Terrible Teddy. But remember 
— the Ides of June are not yet." 



CHAPTER VI 

THE CHASE BY NIGHT AND THE ESCAPE 

With a roar of victory, Terrible Teddy sprang 
to recover this precious paper. 

What was to be done? 

Old Free Silver, who had so often carried Silver 
Bill into trouble, was down and out. 

If he could only reach that tethered, swaying 
mass on the brink of the chasm ! 

But how? 

Man to man, Silver Bill did not fear the Big 
Chief who was chasing the Railway Supervision 
chart that he had artfully tossed into the wind. 

It was Big Stick, the untamed broncho, that stood 
between him and safety. 

His heart gave a sudden leap for joy. 

Big Stick, the lifelong rival of old Free Silver, 
had discovered the prostrate form of Silver Bill's 
defunct mount. 

Unmindful of his master's needs, Big Stick had 
46 



Chase by Night and Escape 47 

fallen on dead Free Silver and was rending him, 
hide, bones and hair. 

It was Silver Bill's salvation. 

Now to escape with the Trust Regulation, at 
least. 

He would leg it. 

At running, Silver Bill was no slouch. 

There was a rush, and he was off. 

With a roar of baffled rage, Terrible Teddy 
sprang to his feet, his scattered treasures yet upon 
the ground. 

The most valuable one of all was missing. 

So was Silver Bill. 

There was no time to be lost. 

Big Stick, envenomed with rage, refused to 
respond to his master's voice. 

Realizing his predicament, Terrible Teddy acted 
with lightning-like speed. 

"I did it in 1904," he roared. "I kin do it ag'in." 

The challenge, wafted through the still night, fell 
ominously on Silver Bill's ear. 

"Try it, pardner," came the quick, sharp response. 

And the chase was on again. 

Like winged coursers, the two men sped forward. 



48 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

Pursued and pursuer were confident, but an ob- 
server, had there been one, could have noted that 
the odds were against Silver Bill. 

Gradually Terrible Teddy forged ahead, gaining 
step by step, spurred on to a desperate speed by the 
passion of his great loss. 

Yet the pace told on each. 

Then suddenly Terrible Teddy saw the yawning 
chasm dead ahead. 

"Cinched delegates!" he roared, "it's all over. He 
cannot escape me now." 

He had not noticed the tethered, swaying, dark 
mass just above the precipice. 

Ten paces more! 

Terrible Teddy was almost upon his prey. 

Five paces, and all would be over. 

Two paces! 

The Big Chief, with a final lunge, plunged for- 
ward in a nerve-racking dash. 

At that instant, and just as Silver Bill seemed 
about to hurl himself over the awful precipice, 
something happened. 

He had thrown himself into the car of his con- 
cealed airship. 




•MM. - 










'CURSES ON HIM," SAID TERRIBLE TEDDY, AS SILVER 
BILL SHOT UPWARD 



50 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

There was the flash of a knife. 

The anchor rope, cut with a lightning-like mo- 
tion, fell at Terrible Teddy's feet. 

Silver Bill shot upward in his buoyant car. 

He was saved. 

"Curses on him," roared his foiled pursuer, "and 
he has my best card." 

In the moonlight could be easily made out the 
name of Silver Bill's rapidly-rising car. 

It was the "Public Ownership." 



CHAPTER VII 



THE INVENTORY 



"Number two!" 

It was the unctuous, diplomatic voice of Peaceful 
Bill taking inventory. 

"Heaven grant that all goes well with Terrible 
Teddy. And yet, I have a strange misgiving." 

Musing thus he peered often and anxiously into 
the black night. 

Alone, he kept vigil with the day's victims. 

Time, as yet unmoved by these stupendous events, 
passed. 

Suddenly there was a rush of wind and a bellow- 
ing boom of noise as if the Heavens themselves were 
about to meet in Convention. 

With it, Terrible Teddy astride Big Stick, came 
over the Corral fence at a bound. 

"What luck? Did he get away with it?" 

It was the first anxious salutation of Peaceful 
Bill. 

51 



52 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

''Shifting delegations!" roared Terrible Teddy, 
"and cursed be he. We've lost the Trust Question." 

"Why couldn't he have taken the Tariff Revision 
Idea?" 

"Tariff Revision!" roared the Big Chief, putting 
Big Stick up for the night. "Ain't ye plum locoed ? 
I ain't sartin but what we're a goin' to hev good 
use fur thet ourselves." 

"Don't ye be a-savin' of it fur me, Terrible 
Teddy." 

"Mammon of Unrighteousness! Bill, ye don't 
know what yer want — nor what yer a-goin' to git." 

"He little knows me," murmured Peaceful Bill, 
concealing his words under his voice, as he con- 
gregated more closely about the Big Chief. "Oncet 
in my possession that Treasure Box'll git a house- 
cleanin' fur yer life." 

"As fur Silver Bill," continued Terrible Teddy, 
"let him beware. If Big Stick don't fail me agin, 
I'll git him yit." 

Peaceful Bill bowed profusely. 

"Right ye air, pardner. An' now fur the little 
donation." 



The Inventory 53 

It was apparent that some deep laid plan was 
about to be carried out. 

"Is the coast clear?" 

"Of two of 'em — Rough Deal George and False 
Alarm Joe. But " 

"You fear others ?" 

"With you by my side? I reply in the negative 
without hesitation." 

And yet, even as he spoke, Peaceful Bill again 
secretly crossed the second finger of each hand over 
its adjacent primal digit. 

"I suspected as much." 

Terrible Teddy's rejoinder came promptly, ac- 
companied with a slight increase in his stature. 

Peaceful Bill, after this desultory conversation, 
continued : 

"That valley down below is full of 'em as are 
agin' me. They're even bandin' together to git me 
and you. It ain't Silver Bill alone 'at's after us and 
the swag." 

"Let 'em beware, Bill! Great sinister offenders, 
let 'em beware! Ain't we all o' the same gang? 
Ain't I the boss? And ain't it my rights to choose 
you fur to succeed me?" 



54 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

"Billy Whiskers, the new Ranger, says it ain't." 

"Ha! Ha! Billy Whiskers, eh!" 

"Right. An' tomorrer night he's a-goin' to start 
a stampede agin us in a blowout with fireworks." 

"Rough Deal George was a foolin' with fireworks, 
too." 

"Billy Whiskers has set off bombs afore." 

"But not in these parts. He little knows what it 
means to start anything on the stamping grounds 
'round the Big Corral without license from the Old 
Ranger. Let him beware!" 

"Let him beware!" repeated the Machiavellian 
giant, yclept "Peaceful Bill." 

"Meet me hyar at dusk to-morrer evenin'. We'll 
larn Billy Whiskers what it means to defy the real 
boss." 

"Good. An' now that Silver Bill's out o' the 
way and Billy Whiskers is disposed of, can't I have 
what's comin' to me?" 

"Bill, I allow that may be ye'll think it kind o' 
hard o' me, but maybe we'd better wait a spell, and 
see what the old gang's a-goin' to do. I ain't no 
particular use o' them treasures. But onless our 
plans work out you ain't a-goin' to need 'em neither. 



The Inventory 55 

I got to be sure, Bill That'll be about all to-night.'' 

As Peaceful Bill spread himself over his broncho 
and rode away into the moonlight, darkness fell 
upon the scene. 

It was Peaceful Bill eclipsing the Queen of Night. 

Ere he slept, the Big Chief had sworn a sacred 
vow. 

He would recover the chart Silver Bill had stolen, 
even if he had to trail the Renegade to the head- 
waters of Salt Creek. 

He would get it even if Peaceful Bill had to fall 
in the expedition. 

And more, he would steal Silver Bill's handy air- 
craft, Public Ownership. 

Perhaps he would need it to carry Peaceful Bill 
back home. 

Then all was still in the Big Corral. 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE CAMP IN THE VALLEY 

All was still? 

Approximately ! 

But in a far corner of the Bunk House of the Big 
Corral, while Nature seemed to sleep without, there 
could be detected the monotonous tap of someone 
knocking. 

Terrible Teddy was not asleep. 

Even the exciting events of the evening had been 
but sedatives to him. 

No sooner had Peaceful Bill's majestic form been 
absorbed in the gathered blackness of night than 
the Big Ranger sought his rest. 

That rest was not sleep. 

Not even the oldest members of his former gang 
had ever caught him at that. 

After quickly reading and indorsing a new novel 
that no one else had yet heard of, he wrote a two 

56 



The Camp in the Valley 57 

thousand word advertisement for a new Nature 
Book. 

Then, stopping for a moment to prepare a maga- 
zine article on "Why Crabs Run Backwards," he 
hastened into the machine-shop of the Corral. 

There, while the night sped, he labored on and on. 

The new day broke calm and clear. 

Not a cloud flecked the cerulean sky. 

Nature, smiling in ignorance, bore no portent of 
the cataclysm that was to come ere another sun 
should rise. 

Far beneath the high bluff on which stood the 
Big Corral of Terrible Teddy, could be seen the al- 
most-barren Salt Creek Valley. 

It was the Free Range. 

Thereon, camped in defiance, might also be seen 
the tents of those who had once called him chief. 

Threading its way in and out among these tem- 
porary shacks, a careful observer might also detect 
the silvery Salt Creek. 

Near at hand, it glistened and shone in the sun. 

Further on, it lost itself, fading away among the 
distant foothills wherein abode the dreaded outlaw, 
Silver Bill Brennings. 



58 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

Long ere Salt Creek reached that lonesome fast- 
ness, its silvery sheen was gone. 

Beneath the bluff and nearest of all, well located 
among the only herbage of the valley, rose a new 
corral. 

Quiet and peaceful, it appeared by day. 

But by night 

Then there was coming and going there. 

Dark-lanterns might be seen flashing. 

It was the camp of Billy Whiskers. 

As the sun rose, Terrible Teddy himself emerged 
from the Big Corral. 

Even as he looked, he saw whiskers in the air. 

"Unscrupulous craft !" he muttered, "can he sus- 
pect me? I hope so." 

"Unscrupulous craft !" 

A resonant, far-reaching voice repeated Terrible 
Teddy's words. 

"Peaceful Bill !" exclaimed Terrible Teddy, "you 
here?" 

"The front of me," humorously replied the well 
known voice of Peaceful Bill, for he it was, indeed, 
who spoke. 

"Any orders this morning?" 



The Camp in the Valley 59 

There was a new note in Peaceful Bill's voice. 

Ere his words had died away Terrible Teddy had 
seen a shadow behind the jovial speaker. 

The new light of day just streaking the eastern 
horizon had fallen ©n Peaceful Bill's crossed fin- 
gers. 

He had been caught in the act. 

"Bill," murmured Terrible Teddy, with the soft 
purr of an eight-pounder at target practice, "from 
now on ye'll keep both hands afore ye. Ef ye 
don't " 

He said no more. 

But he tapped himself lightly on the chest. 



CHAPTER IX 

PEACEFUL BILL'S ORDEAL 

The significant act with which we closed the nar- 
ration of the last chapter did not go unobserved by 
Peaceful Bill. 

However, it wasn't his cue to make comment. 

The agile eyes of Terrible Teddy swept the 
ground. 

The dust flew. 

In a moment, with a sound like an Ohio Postmas- 
ter caught in the act, he roared: 

"Are ye prepared fur the job I mean to git fur 
ye, Bill?" 

"Wal, I've been a practicin' fur four year. Kin 
ye deliver the goods afore Silver Bill gits em all ?" 

"Have a care, Bill, how you cross me. I may 
and I mayn't. There's others." 

He cast his eyes on the valley below. 

Part of Peaceful Bill trembled. 

Terrible Teddy knew his man. 
60 



Peaceful Bill's Ordeal 61 

"Now fur yer lesson. Let me hear you say 
'Liar!'" 

Peaceful Bill, having now fully arrived, screamed 
"Liar!" 

"Fin shocked, Bill. Ye couldn't a-heerd that 
more'n a mile. Now, we'll have some spellin' and 
writin'. Spell 'great.' " 

"T-E-D-D-Y." 

"Spell 'through.' " 

"T-H-R-U." 

"What's the chief end of man?" 

"To knock and get away with it." 

"What do ye think about tariff revision?" 

"Huh?" 

"What do ye think about tariff revision?" 

"Huh! I'm kind o' hard o' hearin'." 

"Fine. Gimme the test fur paresis." 

"You shall not press down upon the brow of 
labor this crown of silver ; you shall not crucify man- 
kind upon a cross of gold." 

"Do you drink?" 

"Never tech no cocktails." 

"What's yer idee o' humor?" 

"Old Joke Annon." 



62 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

"What's 'law defyin' wealth' ?" 

"Sompin to swear at." 

"Very good. Now ye can practice watchin' the 
Corral. I'm off over the foothills, turkey shootinV 

"Thar ain't no turkeys thar," suggested Peaceful 
Bill. 

Terrible Teddy laughed in scorn. 

"What's the difference? Thar warn't no bears 
in the cane-brakes. Thar'll be plenty of photog- 
raphers." 

******* 

Until noon the faithful Peaceful Bill plugged at 
his lesson. 

By twelve o'clock he could roar "Liar" so loudly 
that those camped in the valley below shook in their 
shoes. 

Then stealing out of the Big Corral to a shady 
and fragrant mesquite grove hard by, he took from 
a secret pocket of his chaps a well-thumbed and evi- 
dently much-used volume. 

It was a blank book, now almost filled with notes, 
memoranda and data. 

Glancing about to be sure he was not observed, 
Peaceful Bill got busy at once with his fountain pen. 



Peaceful Bill's Ordeal 63 

He was writing in the department headed : 

"My Own Policies: to be used in case of need." 



When the evening breeze began to kiss the flushed 
face of the dying day, there was a sudden clang of 
hurrying hoofs, and Big Stick, with Terrible Teddy 
at his ease on the poop deck, shot into view like 
summer lightning athwart the horizon. 

With a spring, the agile Big Stick rose, clearing 
the Corral and Bunk House at a bound. 

In mid-air he paused, while Terrible Teddy 
alighted upon the Bunk House roof. 

There, in a defiant attitude, turkeyless, but with 
the flush of victory on his bronzed countenance, he 
glanced anxiously about. 

"You have returned, I observe," commented 
Peaceful Bill, from the porte cochere. 

"With six as good negatives as ye ever seen !" 

"How are ye a-goin' to git down?" 

Terrible Teddy had already kicked on the roof. 

The faithful 'prentice Ranger, Little Willy, sprang 
quickly into view. 

With hardly a second glance, Terrible Teddy 



64 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

sprang lightly in the air, lit upon the waiting 'pren- 
tice and stepped comfortably to the ground. 

"I'm hardened to it," said the eager 'prentice. 
"Besides, he ain't as heavy as he looks — when you 
git used to him." 

Peaceful Bill stood at attention. 

Terrible Teddy gave a quick look toward the tent 
of Billy Whiskers. 

"And now, Peaceful Bill!" he roared, "for the 
work before us." 



CHAPTER X 

BILLY WHISKERS' ROUND UP 

It was night ! 

The camp fire in Billy Whiskers' corral rose and 
fell as the faithful Timothy fed the blaze. 

In the other camps in the valley there were, at 
that particular hour, no signs of life. 

At the time specified, two silent figures might 
have been seen creeping through the gloom from 
the high ground on which stood the Big Corral of 
the Chief Ranger. 

Skilled in the tricks of their craft, these figures 
gave forth no sound to mark their approach. 

But, ever and anon, as their eyes fell on the camp 
fire below, they smiled. 

"All goes well." 

The speaker, to better conceal his identity, quickly 
closed his mouth. 

"All goes well," repeated the gigantic man by his 
side. 

"Billy Whiskers will be number three." 
65 



66 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

"Billy Whiskers will be number three," repeated 
the larger of the two men. 

"Uninstructed delegates! Bill," roared his com- 
panion, "ain't ye any idees o' yur own ?" 

"Ain't I ? Listen to this : Gelatine spined shrimp !" 

"Good, Bill. I didn't 'low it was in ye." 

It is hardly necessary to explain that the two fig- 
ures we have described were Terrible Teddy, the 
Chief of the Big Corral, and Peaceful Bill, his 
chosen scout and pal. 

Some deed of darkness was afoot. 

Slowly and stealthily the two men advanced. 

Suddenly, Terrible Teddy stopped. 

At the signal, Peaceful Bill put on the emergency 
brakes. 

Both sniffed the air. 

Someone was smoking a bad cigar. 

Was it friend or foe? 

"When ye git to a stop, Bill, stay there. I'll just 
have a little look ahead." 

In a moment Terrible Teddy returned. 

His face was illumined with a smile. 

"Only Old Sleuth Joke Annon," whispered 
Teddy. 



68 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

"And on our trail ?" 

"He ain't onto nothin' ! He only thinks he is. 
Follow me!" 

Making a slight detour, the two men soon passed 
the old scout unobserved. 

At daybreak Old Joke was still standing pat. 

"Nothin' doin'," he mused, as he lighted a fresh 
cigar. 

He little knew he had been passed in the night. 

But what of Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill ? 

Let us see ! 

Within the confines of Billy Whiskers' new camp, 
there was much doing. 

The valley had turned out to participate in a 
grand round-up. 

When all was ready, Billy Whiskers climbed upon 
a stump and made a speech. 

"Cow punchers, greasers, Injuns and half-breeds : 
I'm a-goin' to demonstrate that there is more than 
one big noise in these parts. You folks on the Free 
Range seem to calkerlate as how the only jar is up 
thar on the Big Bluff. Tim, tech her off!" 

A cow puncher in a red vest set before the mob 
a big new bomb. 



Billy Whiskers' Round Up 69 

"Let 'er go." 

With a quick motion, the ready Tim lighted the 
fuse. 

It sputtered and snapped. 

The crowd fell back in expectant awe. 

Bang! Biff! Bang! 

Just behind Billy Whiskers' new Corral, there 
was a roar that shook the earth. 

Billy Whiskers' bomb went off. 

But no one heard it. 

In the glare of the real explosion outside, a patch 
of ivory was seen. 

Likewise an adjacent smile. 

Then these faded out, and in the circumambient 
shadows, a mountainous shape was seen heeling 
to larboard in the direction of the tall timber. 

It was Peaceful Bill, well satisfied with the night's 
work. 

All that could be found was a scrap of paper thus 
inscribed : 

"Number three." 



CHAPTER XI 

TREASURE FOR BALLAST 

It will now be in order for us to discover what 
had become of Silver Bill. 

It will be remembered that this ruthless renegade 
had made a horrible escape from a narrow death 
on the brink of the precipice. 

In doing so he had also escaped the desperate 
clutch of his implacable enemy, Terrible Teddy. 

Safe in his trusty air-craft, Public Ownership, 
Silver Bill had darted, bird-like, into the blue em- 
pyrean. 

This incident brought abruptly to a close the in- 
terview between the two men. 

As the moon shot forth from behind a cloud and 
the mounting airship limned itself against the fleecy 
rifts of the softly illumined sky, it was indeed a 
thrilling and dramatic situation. 

One word shot downward. 

"Stung!" 

70 



Treasure for Ballast Ji 

"The fellow is playing a deep game," muttered 
the baffled chief of the Big Corral, "but let him 
beware." 

As he watched the rapidly disappearing craft of 
Silver Bill, Terrible Teddy, baffled of his prey, ex- 
claimed hoarsely : 

'This act be upon his own head." 

He had seen the ship swerve in its course. 

"As I suspected," he added, again hoarsely. 

The almost invisible machine ducked and then 
righted itself. 

"Ha ! Ha ! Silver Bill's welcome to it. I calker- 
late as how thet's the same one they wanted to give 
me. He kin hev his airship. Gimme old Big Stick 
for a sartinty." 

"Now," he concluded, turning from the edge of 
the chasm to the back trail, "fur my little counter 
game." 

As the earth dropped rapidly away from Silver 
Bill that worthy became alarmed. 

He was not unused to ascensions, but he was now 
higher in the air than ever before. 

The airship was not new ; he had bought it second 
hand. 



72 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

Although others had used it, Silver Bill had neg- 
lected to thoroughly acquaint himself with one thing 
— the steering wheel. 

"The less I meddle with her the better," mur- 
mured the fleeing Bill. 

And yet, ere an hour had sped, he succumbed to 
the temptation. 

He would experiment. 

Cautiously he touched a lever marked "General 
Control/' 

Evidently it did. 

This was what Terrible Teddy had seen from 
below. 

Old Public Ownership darted, wobbled and then 
shot earthward at a terrific pace. 

There was a smothered curse from Silver Bill. 

He could not cry aloud for help. 

He was under contract to speak publicly only at 
specified places. 

Therefore, apostrophizing himself, he exclaimed 
hurriedly: 

"Sacre-mznto ! I hope it'll get me at least over 
the camp o' the Rangers. I don't know as they'd 
harm me or take the machine, but I ain't a-goin' to 



Treasure for Ballast 73 

take no chances. Something must and shall be 
done. Let me think!" 

There being no one present to oppose him, he 
did so. 

His pale set features assumed the expression of a 
man being introduced to an audience. 

Then, intelligence suddenly returning, he ex- 
claimed : 

"I have it. I must throw over ballast." 

But what? 

He cursed himself anew for failing to get Terri- 
ble Teddy's Treasure Box. 

It would have saved his life. 

He thought of what he had secured — the Trust 
Control chart. 

No! Better death itself, first. 

Nonplussed for the nonce, he yet refused to give 
up. 

There was a western legend that Silver Bill had 
never given up anything. 

Suddenly there was a wild, shrill cry. 

It was Silver Bill giving birth to a second thought 
in one day. 



74 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

"My New York speech!" he cried in exultation. 

Without more ado — and in less time than it takes 
to write it — Silver Bill had drawn from a secret 
pocket of his cloak a heavy bound volume labeled, 
"Public Ownership Speech, New York. Made on 
my return from Circumnavigating the Globe." 

"The very thing," he exclaimed bitterly; "over 
she goes." 

It was no sooner said than done. 

Silver Bill, with unerring aim, managed to heave 
the heavy volume over the side of the now almost 
earth-reached ship. 

It went hurtling from the car. 

The ship responded instantly, shooting skyward 
like a rocket. 

Down, down, down, the volume plunged. 

He was saved. 

It wasn't easy to part with his own treasure. 

But it meant his salvation. 

With a strained ear he listened. 

Where would the crushing volume light? 

After what seemed an age, a dull, sickening thud 
came reverberating skyward. 



Treasure {or Ballast 75 

Silver Bill knew that his prized and discarded, 
but now death-dealing treasure, had reached terra 
firma. 

But where? 

Of that, more anon. 



CHAPTER XII 

A NEAR DASH TO DEATH 

Not to weary our readers, we will say that Silver 
Bill's airship continued to rise skyward again with 
the utmost celerity. 

But the occupant of the car well knew that when 
this flight was ended he would hit the earth with 
emphasis. 

Therefore, he quivered with consecutive tremors 
of delight as he noted that he was fast passing over 
the dreaded valley wherein the Free Rangers were 
encamped. 

He did not fear death. 

But to fall among these rough and voracious 
rangers meant worse than death. 

They would probably ignore him. 

The first faint blush of dawn was just illuming 
the eastern sky when Silver Bill detected signs of a 
second rapid descent. 

To his horror he noted that the airship had not 
76 



A Near Dash to Death yy 

yet traveled as far as to his own abode among the 
foothills at the headwaters of Salt Creek. 

He was now immediately over the encampment 
of the Mocrats. 

Even as he sighted these villainous-faced and 
beady-eyed redskins he smiled. 

He was known to the Mocrats. 

Among them for a time he would be safe. 

But he was not sure about his airship! 

This mixed band of Injuns and half-breeds had 
once been a powerful tribe. 

Now the Mocrats were few in number and prac- 
tically leaderless. 

Smooth Waters, who had been their long time 
chief in other days, was no more. 

Nor was he less. 

He was just dead. 

The present nominal chief, Big Smoke. Waters' 
son, had succeeded his father in control. 

But Big Smoke, Waters' son, had ideas that were 
too free even for the Mocrats. 

Without the power to assume full control of the 
band, he had been intriguing to place a pal in his 
moccasins. 



78 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

This was Yon Yonson, the half-breed. 

So far, Big Smoke had miserably failed in his 
intrigue. 

Under old Smooth Waters the Mocrats had lived 
in gluttonous plenty on the range now occupied by 
the G-circle-O-P outfit of Free Rangers. 

Now the gaunt Mocrats were again hungry for 
the verdant plains from which they had been dis- 
possessed. 

Bruited dissensions among the Free Rangers 
seemed to warrant hope of success. 

It was largely a question of a real leader. 

Some of the full-bloods were ready to accept any 
one, bar Big Smoke. 

Some even favored Silver Bill Brennings, the 
nearby Renegade and hated foe of the G-circle-O-P 
outfit. 

Bill favored himself — first, last and all the time. 

But how to worm himself into the tribe? 

The precipitate descent of his airship directly into 
the village of the Mocrats seemed fortuitous. 

Glancing over the edge of the car in its mad 
downward flight, Silver Bill could just discern, in 
the early morning light, the pseudo Chief Big Smoke 




YON YOXSOX 



80 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

— the last ripple as it were of old time Smooth 
Waters. 

Big Smoke was making his matutinal harangue 
to all who would listen to him. 

These were mainly old men with long hair. 

"And who is this Silver Bill Brennings?" Big 
Smoke inquired eloquently. 

"I'll tell you : he is a tongued dragon without 
teeth or claws." 

"Is that so?" 

This instant interrogatory fell upon the ears of 
the assembled Mocrats as if projected from the 
Heavens. 

Silver Bill Brennings, for it was from his lips 
the words emanated, quickly bringing his airship 
to a pause, stepped lightly to the earth. 



CHAPTER XIII 



AMONG THE MOCRATS 



"Who are you talking to, sir?" 

Big Smoke, the pseudo leader of the Mocrats, 
hurled these words into Silver Bill's teeth. 

The enchanting beauties of the place and hour 
seemed not to mitigate the quickly engendered ani- 
mosity that pervaded the immediate vicinity. 

Both men seemed sore. 

Silver Bill had, as stated, given the defi to Big 
Smoke. 

"I have startling news for you, Smokeless," he 
added, laughing harshly, "and that is: I am here 
not of my own volition but because it was inevita- 
ble." 

Big Smoke's blood ran cold. 

He was looking upon the man who had sworn to 
take his life if their paths ever crossed. 

Each was taking the measure of his man. 
81 



82 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

The iron nerve of Silver Bill was telling. 

Hastily summoning an Indian lad, Big Smoke 
ordered and consumed a frosty concoction of some 
fermented spirits and a fragrant herbage. 

But the glittering, relentless eye of the man be- 
fore him was too much. 

He succumbed. 

"I didn't mean no harm, Bill!" 

"Then stow your guff," retorted Silver Bill per- 
emptorily. 

Moistening his lips, he continued : 

"Ef you Injuns and half-breeds wants a leader — 
irhich I doubt sometimes — I'm the man." 

Pausing for a moment, he untied the airship, 
which, unburdened with a passenger, sailed away 
instantly and beautifully in the morning air. 

"I don't want it and they shan't have it." 

These words he spoke gently into his sleeve. 

"Now, Mocrats, come hither." 

With only half-hearted consent they did so. 

"See what I've got! A chart to a fine bit of 
buried treasure." 

Thereupon he displayed before their astonished 
eyes the map marked "The Trust Question." 




SSsras^=** 









mam 



SILVER BILL SHOWS BIG SMOKE THE RECOVERED CHART 



84 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

It was the treasure he had taken at such peril 
from Terrible Teddy. 

"Ye've all hearn tell o' this. It's the chart I lost. 
Now I got it agin " 

"What'll it get us, Silver Bill?" 

"What'll it git you? I can't say fur sartin, but 
I reckon as how it's a good thing. It's sompin 
anyway. An' it looks valleble to me." 

Looks of approval began to intersperse them- 
selves among his auditors. 

"Now, them as favor me for leader say but 

what's the use? With this 'ere treasure chart ye got 
to make me your chief." 

But, apparently, some of the Mocrats were not 
after concealed treasure. 

"How about eats?" 

These harsh words grated on Silver Bill's ears. 

For answer he made signs for all to follow him to 
the top of what would have been a decided excava- 
tion had the adjacent topography not been reversed. 

Slowly advancing to the brow of a bluff, Silver 
Bill took a drink of ice water, cleared his throat 
and began : 

"Ladies and " 



Among the Mocrats 85 

Quickly recovering himself, he started afresh : 

"Mocrats, hearken! 

"Yonder, just where the light of the new day is 
incardining the eastern horizon lies the Free Range 
that ye knew in the time of old Smooth Waters. 

"Terrible Teddy, the boss of the Big Corral, 
wrested it from you. 

"His outfit now draws sustenance from its yet 
partly fertile slopes. 

"Twice in eight years, at your earnest solicitation, 
I have led you back toward yonder land of good 
things. 

"Twice we returned empty handed and hungry. 

"Why?" 

From the confines of the camp came a pitiless and 
cold echo — 

"Why?" 

It was Big Smoke, unabashed and unashamed. 



CHAPTER XIV 

THE DEFIANCE OF BIG SMOKE 

About two seconds subsequent to the events re- 
lated in the last chapter, Silver Bill Brennings re- 
sumed his celebrated address to the Mocrats. 

As our reader recollects, he had just exclaimed: 

"Why?" 

Then came Big Smoke's terse, tart echo. 

"Ill tell ye why! 

"Because my tried and true old war-broncho, 
Free Silver, carried me alone and beyond you into 
the jaws of the enemy. 

"Therefore, I fit the battle alone. 

"You Mocrats failed to support me. 

"Now, old Free Silver is dead. 

"I'm afoot. 

"We will go forrard together. 

"The Rangers are involved in internecine war. 

"Their chief, Terrible Teddy, has troubles of his 

own. 

86 



The Defiance of Big Smoke 87 

"He thinks we are dead. 

"Do not undeceive him. 

"You all look it. 

"Dissemble. 

"With this precious chart we'll find treasure to 
buy arms. And," Silver Bill dropped his voice, 
"where it cum frum there's more, and I'm goin' to 
have another whack at the box to wunst. 

"Then, 'bout the time snow flies, we'll attack. 
It's 16 to 1 " 

"Ria! toh! (no, no.) 

These quick-spoken words rang out in the welkin. 

Silver Bill started. 

He was always starting something. 

"Erofeb dias uoy tahw staht." 

No one could mistake the terrible significance of 
these cryptic Mocrat words. 

They shot from between the parted lips of a full- 
blood. 

The ironical nerve of Silver Bill did not desert 
him. 

For a full moment no sound was heard. 

The buck who had uttered the sentence well knew 
that he staked his life in so doing. 



88 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

Therefore, poised lightly, he stood ready to 
spring. 

Throughout the band excitement rose to fever 
heat. 

Silver Bill was known far and near as a man who 
never brooked an insult. 

But in those few brief seconds he took his own 
advice. 

He dissembled. 

Yet, the words of the old buck caused a chill to 
curdle around his heart and a pallor to supplement 
the flush of indignation on his bronzed cheek. 

Otherwise he was cool as a cucumber. 

"Let that pass !" 

These were his first spoken words. 

But the crisis was no longer acute. 

The old buck, like a whipped cur, slunk into the 
purlieus of the encampment. 

Quickly regaining his composure, Silver Bill sud- 
denly shook his Trust Control Chart in the air. 

"Now," he began, "are you with me?" 

"To a man!" 

The phrase came rudely from the sneering lips of 
the plainly discomfited Big Smoke. 



The Defiance of Big Smoke 89 

Silver Bill was not to be beaten in repartee. 

"Which man?" 

The query fell lightly and gaily from his lips, 
with no suggestion of the consuming anxiety behind 
his persiflage. 

"Old Moss Back!" 

Big Smoke had returned the quip. 

He pointed merrily to the oldest Injun in the 
bunch. 

"Old Moss Back's with you," Big Smoke reiter- 
ated, with a trace of abandon in his voice, "the 
others have all learned to read." 

This was the last straw. 

His brow darkened with rage and also knit with 
the same emotion, Silver Bill sprang forward. 

It required but a brief interval for him to wholly 
transport himself to the immediate vicinity of Big 
Smoke, whom he would have smitten to the earth, 
when 

A sprightly lad in blue, with a neat patch on the 
seat of his pants and a distrait look o'er-spreading 
his otherwise intelligent face, strolled by. 

"Hey, youse," he remarked, deferentially and also 
politely. 



90 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

"Gimme two bits and sign yere and ten cents fur 
car fare what time is it say !" 

Shortly afterwards he surrendered a worn and 
weary message which bore the superscription : 

"Silver Bill Brennings." 

Feverishly separating a portion of the message 
from its bed of gum tragacanth, the orator of the 
day — pausing for the moment in his deadly on- 
slaught — read as follows : 

"Booked to-night before Bible Class of Fourth 
Baptist Church, Wawassee, Indiana, on Piece of 
Prints. Take first train and collect $250." 

Silver Bill's arm fell. 

Big Smoke was saved. 

It required but a few moments for the frugal Bill 
to get busy. 

His black locks, such as they were, flying to the 
wild western breeze, and a suit-case following 
closely in his rear, the last speaker of the day was 
soon making tracks toward Wawassee and the $250. 

At that instant a billow of sound rose and floated 
out over the Injun audience. 

Then it spread and wafted into silence among the 
adjacent foothills. 

It was the Mocrats' sigh of relief. 



CHAPTER XV 

THE MYSTERY 

It is now high time that we returned to our two 
heroes, Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill, whom we 
left escaping successfully from the confusion of the 
big explosion in the rear of Billy Whiskers' Camp. 

Billy Whiskers speedily divined what had oc- 
curred. 

In the red gleam that lit the sky he saw the un- 
mistakable earmarks of the men he had defied. 

Every one knew that it was now war to the knife. 

And every one knew that it would be a bloody 
combat if Billy Whiskers could find the time. 

For reasons that will be explained later, at this 
crisis he said nothing. 

In the whirlwind rush of his business, however, 
he managed to keep one eye slightly peeled. 

The faithful Timothy said nothing with the same 

insistent silence. 

91 



92 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

The same night two trusted messengers stole 
silently from Billy Whiskers' Camp. 

One of them, riding as only a desperate man can, 
neither rested nor slept for three days. 

His destination was the Great Eastern Bomb 
Works (Limited). 

His message, delivered with breathless eagerness, 
was this : 

"One noiseless, smokeless bomb, extra large and 
warranted to keep — cost no object." 

The other of the two horsemen had but a few- 
hours' journey. 

Ere daybreak he had made a detour of the valley 
and, apparently familiar with the lay of the land, 
had approached the Big Corral from the off side. 

Emitting a long, low sound like an early caucus, 
he waited with apparent confidence. 

He was answered almost immediately by a dazed 
but eager figure. 

Our reader will at once recognize Rough Deal 
George, Terrible Teddy's paymaster. 

It is no secret to them that Rough Deal was only 
wounded. 



The Mystery 93 

With a quick glance Rough Deal George made 
out the silent horseman. 

As he did so he also made a graceful obeisance. 

Without superfluous words, Billy Whiskers' emis- 
sary then delivered a special delivery letter. 

It read : 

"A cabinet job fur a hull year if ye can deliver 
the secret of Terrible Teddy's brand 0' bombs/' 

Rough Deal George gasped. 

Then he glanced furtively about. 

There was no time for delay. 

Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill might return 
at any moment. 

Should he betray the good, kind master who had 
taught him all he knew of the game? 

Evidently he should. 

With stealth he reached upward and whispered 
three words in the ear of the impatient horseman. 

To one who understands, the words are plain. 

To one who does not understand, they are tin- 
solvable mysteries. 

The writer, while traveling in the far East, heard, 
in a remarkable manner and under pledge of in- 
violable secrecy, the key to this strange mystery. 



94 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

Although it has always been to him a matter of 
the greatest surprise that others have failed to fall 
to the secret, he cannot here place it upon record. 

One thing is certain : the method insures success. 

The cabalistic words uttered by Rough Deal 
George were simply these: "Git New York!" 

Wheeling his steed, the man was off like a flash. 

Rough Deal George was, as stated, still suffering 
from the shock of the premature explosion of the 
bomb he was trying to get away with. 

In spite of this a faint smile spread o'er his 
bruised face. 

It was at the solicitation of the very man whom 
he had but now betrayed that he first took to drink. 

Terrible Teddy and his friends had pushed liquor 
upon the young man and urged him to go the limit. 

To gain false strength he had done so. 

At first he drank secretly. 

The appetite increased with fearful rapidity. 

He became the slave of rum. 

It grew upon him until he became a madman ! 

While absolutely unconscious he had betrayed the 
confidence of his employer. 




ROUGH DEAL GEORGE IMPARTS THE SECRET TO FAITHFUL TIM 



g6 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

Having betrayed him he loved him too much to 
deceive him. 

Therefore, he must remain silent. 

Yet the crime had only clouded, not annihilated, 
the goodness that was his. 

If that which was sensitive in him had yielded to 
the fierce gnawings of his appetite and led him to 
become more abandoned than a less sensitive per- 
son, there was that within him that could be re- 
kindled. 

They had but to give him the real bomb. 

To what purport had Billy Whiskers' two horse- 
men made their wild and perilous night ride? 

We shall see in good time. 



CHAPTER XVI 

A FEW SCALPS 

The events which led to the counter explosion in 
Billy Whiskers' Camp have been plainly indicated 
to our readers. 

It is not necessary, therefore, at the present stage 
of our narrative, to give more precise details of Ter- 
rible Teddy's little game. 

As our story advances every incident will be made 
perfectly plain as it relates to the mystery involving 
the career of our two heroes. 

We refer, of course, to Silver Bill's desperate 
quest of the Treasure Box. 

In making their getaway Terrible Teddy and 
Peaceful Bill avoided the short trail back to the 
Big Corral. 

They didn't want to meet any one. 

To interfere with a fellow ranger's fireworks, 
particularly in his own corral, was bad form. 

The incriminating evidence of Terrible Teddy's 

presence bothered Peaceful Bill. 

97 



9 8 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful BUI 

Terrible Teddy was known to be one man who 
always kept bombs on hand. 

Terrible Teddy, himself, didn't care. 

He was already at outs with nearly all the Ran- 
gers. 

But Peaceful Bill must have a care. 

Terrible Teddy was quitting the job and he was 
trying to take it on. 

Therefore, it was with no small apprehension 
that Peaceful Bill suddenly descried a scouting party 
rapidly advancing in the direction of Billy Whis- 
kers' Corral. 

It was made up of belated friends on the way to 
the fireworks. 

They did not know the show was over. 

Hastily kicking Terrible Teddy on the shins, he 
adroitly concealed that individual behind him. 

"Don't think I'm skeer'd, Bill." 

But the astute, altitudinous man in front of him 
hissed : 

"There's times you ought to be." 

Like a dove of peace, Peaceful Bill gave the 
strangers a chirrup of joyful salutation. 



A Few Scalps 99 

"Greetings, Peaceful Bill. Seein' as how you're 
alone, like as not we'd better stop and visit a spell." 

"I couldn't think of it," says Peaceful Bill, again 
speaking soft and smooth. "Billy Whiskers has had 
a little accident. You'd best hurry on and help 
him." 

With fond farewells the party did as Peaceful 
Bill bade. 

Terrible Teddy, emerging from his hiding place, 
asked hurriedly : 

"Bill, hev ye turned clean soft ? Did ye mean it ?" 

There was no answer. 

But a close observer might have seen Peaceful 
Bill's west eye open and close with neat precision. 

Time was pressing. 

It was no hour for idle or superfluous words. 

Slipping silently forward with the unerring in- 
stinct of veteran plainsmen, Peaceful Bill suddenly 
fell against the yielding gate of a silent and dark 
corral. 

With but a passing glance at the rude mail-box, 
he knew at once that they were in False Alarm Joe's 
corral. 

Quickly giving the alarm to his companion, 



ioo Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

Peaceful Bill made signs for Terrible Teddy to fol- 
low, and the two men, under the giant's direction, 
made a spurt through the very center of the corral. 

There was no hesitation. 

Peaceful Bill knew his ground. 

In fact, he personally owned this and some adja- 
cent country. 

The O-high-0 ranch had been leased to False 
Alarm Joe and he had defaulted in the last rent 
payment. 

Also, as our readers will remember, False Alarm 
Joe was not at present on the job. 

In his absence the entire outfit seemed fast asleep. 

Peaceful Bill looked about at certain signs of 
decay and neglect and sighed. 

The sparse catalpas responded to the breeze, and 
again all was still. 

"I got to find a new tenant, Teddy. False Alarm 
Joe was no good anyway." 

"How about ?" asked Terrible Teddy, 

adroitly scaling the eastern slope of Peaceful Bill 
and whispering the last word in his companion's 
ear. 

"The very man," responded the other of the two 



A Few Scalps 101 

men, affectionately slapping the other of the two 
speakers on the back. 

When Terrible Teddy had regained his feet and 
deftly poulticed himself, the homeward-bound pair 
resumed the trail. 

Who was the new tenant? 

He who pens this narrative is not advised. 

Peaceful Bill, whose knowledge of the environ- 
ments naturally placed him in charge of the party, 
was suddenly conscious that he was alone. 

His face blanched with apprehension. 

Or was it the luridity of rage ? 

He well knew that the corral was alive with ex- 
postmasters. 

Alone among these, Terrible Teddy took his life 
in his hand. 

"Very well! His blood be upon his own head." 

But it wasn't ! 

It was upon his hands. 

Within a few moments Terrible Teddy, a modest 
smile surrounding the expanse of his ivorine molars, 
had rejoined his friend. 

Coolly drawing from his pocket three fresh scalps, 
he presented them gracefully to Peaceful Bill. 



102 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

"Them's postmasters," he explained nonchalantly. 

Fired by this diverting adventure.. Terrible Teddy 
gave signs of new restlessness. 

A dark side passage had attracted his eye. 

But, as the Big Chief was about to act upon a 
hastily formed impulse, Bill, with a premonition of 
danger, huskily said : 

"Not on yer life, Teddy. That's the quarters of 
the colored help. They're sworn to False Alarm 
Joe. Would you have them rise and avenge him? 
Not now, no how !" 

Thanking Peaceful Bill for his timely warning, 
Terrible Teddy placed his hand within one of Peace- 
ful Bill's, and without further delay they stole rap- 
idly through False Alarm Joe's sleeping outfit. 



CHAPTER XVII 

BUTTERMILK CHARLEY 's BLIND PIG 

Our two heroes anticipated encountering strange 
adventures, but they did not dream of the thrilling 
incidents that the night was destined to develop. 

Unless they now laid their course far to the south, 
they well knew that they would have to pass di- 
rectly over dangerous ground. 

This was the corral and shack of the elongated 
terror, Buttermilk Charley. 

And it was territory that Peaceful Bill did not 
know any too well. 

This tall, taciturn terror owned the only ice-house 
on the Free Range. 

Therein, as advertised, he kept on hand at all 
times a full supply of that wholesome and nutritious 
liquid comestible from which he took his own so- 
briquet. 

As a matter of fact, this alleged buttermilk was 
forty- rod whisky. 

103 



104 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

Even the astute Terrible Teddy, in previous at- 
tempts to get the goods on the Sycamorean Charley, 
had failed utterly. 

The latter had proved an alibi. 

While yet the recognized boss of the Free Ran- 
gers, Terrible Teddy had visited Buttermilk Char- 
ley's reputed "blind pig." 

Assuming a sudden thirst as a disguise, the sleuth- 
ful Teddy had asked for refreshment. 

An ingenuous and unreliable attendant made 
haste to serve him. 

Terrible Teddy's eyes glistened. 

He saw approaching him a spicy and frapped 
liquid blushing with the hidden wealth of its con- 
comitant comfiture. 

It was the seductive cocktail. 

Hastily absorbing the concoction, Terrible Teddy 
whipped out a note-book. 

Quickly inscribing the day and date he exclaimed : 

"Now, my good man, you are in my power !" 

Buttermilk Charley smiled coldly. 

"What evidence have you?" he remarked, almost 
indifferently. 



: Ibuttepmilk 




'NOW, MY GOOD MAN, YOU ARE IN MY POWER' 



io6 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

Terrible Teddy realized too late that he was 
foiled. 

"My friends will say you had buttermilk," con- 
tinued Buttermilk Charley, icily. 

"Don't I know a cocktail ?" 

It was the feeble bluff of Terrible Teddy. 

"Where is the cherry?" 

Buttermilk Charley, foolish like a fox, asked these 
words with the tone of a man who had been there 
before. 

"Merciful Heavens !" Terrible Teddy gulped. 

He had swallowed the cherry. 

Now the tables were turned. 

Peaceful Bill would be a witness. 

The latter, his mouth already drooling with 
pleasant anticipation, quickly acquiesced in Terrible 
Teddy's plans. 

"We'll clean him out," bubbled Peaceful Bill. 

"So did I," exclaimed his companion, "but I 
couldn't prove it." 

It was but the work of a moment to decide upon 
their plan of action. 

Quickly disguising himself as a young matron 



Buttermilk Charley's Blind Pig 107 

at a progressive bridge party, Peaceful Bill tripped 
lightly into Buttermilk Charley's shack. 

An obsequious attendant, without the formality 
of an order, hastily placed before him a full grown 
Manhattan. 

Hard by, concealed within the shadow of the ice- 
house and yet seeing all, Terrible Teddy smiled 
fiendishly. 

"Trapped !" 

As he emitted this Vidocquesque exclamation, his 
heart stopped. 

What had he seen? 

As Peaceful Bill raised the glass daintily to his 
lips his disguise shifted. 

Buttermilk Charley, ever alert, saw it all. 

With well feigned courtesy he stepped swiftly to 
the lady's side. 

"Pardon me, madame," he remarked, "your hat 
is not on straight!" 

At the same moment his skinny arm slipped. 

The ruby glass fell to the floor and was dashed 
into a thousand pieces ! 

Was Peaceful Bill discomfited? 



108 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

One less versed in the ways of law-breakers might 
well have been. 

But not he. 

He had anticipated the very thing that occurred. 

As the glass started downward, with a swift and 
skilled twist of the wrist he had flipped the em- 
bosomed cherry into the air. 

Then with another motion that had more than 
once stood him in good stead, the wily Bill had 
nimbly caught and secreted the falling cherry be- 
tween his delicately gloved fingers. 

Quickly as the act was accomplished it did not 
escape the ferret-like eye of Buttermilk Charley. 

"Your glove is soiled," he exclaimed, with well 
simulated concern, "permit me." 

And he advanced with a napkin, as if to repair 
the accident. 

It was exactly as our two heroes had planned. 

"You are so kind," murmured the apparently 
agitated lady. 

Then, adroitly reaching over Buttermilk Charley's 
stooping figure, Peaceful Bill, with a quick, hasty 
movement, tossed the cherry through the open win- 
dow. 



Buttermilk CJiarley's Blind Pig 109 

As Peaceful Bill threw off his disguise, Terrible 
Teddy sprang through the window, the tell-tale evi- 
dence safely in his upraised hand. 

"Peaceful Bill," exclaimed Buttermilk Charley, 
dropping his napkin in the confusion, "who'd a- 
thought it?" 

They had the goods on Old Buttermilk. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

MONEY TALKS ROUND HERE 

Nothing disturbed the silence of the night but 
noise. 

Following upward the frosty path on which the 
sound had traveled, a curious inquirer would have 
discovered that it emanated from the curled lips of 
Buttermilk Charley. 

That still defiant worthy had drawn himself to 
his full length. 

"Any way, I don't drink 'em myself." 

The words sparkled like the inside of a sample- 
room refrigerator in the presence of a bowling tour- 
nament. 

"What is your favorite beverage?" 

Terrible Teddy spoke these words with the sang- 
froid of a man playing with his victim. 

The effect was electrical ! 

"Beveridge!" shrieked the trapped Charley, "have 
you no mercy?" 

110 



Money Talks 'Round Here in 

Apparently he had been touched in a tender spot. 

Our two heroes glanced at each other signifi- 
cantly. 

It was time to strike. 

"Buttermilk Charley," remarked Terrible Teddy, 
"I understand ye hev been knockin' my friend here 
and a-sayin' he ain't no fit man to hev my job?" 

'T ain't the only one !" 

"Mebbe not. But one at a time. I calkerlate as 
how ye'll agree that no blind-pig keepers is a-going 
to hev the job. Air ye on?" 

Buttermilk Charley's answer came to the two men 
like the snapping of icicles on a March morning. 

"Howsomever that may be, when the deal's all 
over you'll find me here, cuttin' ice jist the same, 
and don't ye fergit it. The time may come when 
the Rangers'll pint the finger o' scorn at me. But 
it'll be fur gittin' caught. While my ice lasts my 
outfit'll be faithful to me. You think you have the 
winning card. Listen ! Guilty or not — I have you 
at my mercy." 

"Let's vamoose," whispered Peaceful Bill, "he's 
warmin' up." 

As Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill attempted 



ii2 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

to do so, Buttermilk Charley coolly drew forth a 
roll of crisp $100 Treasury notes. 

Ere the sound had died away, as if by a precon- 
certed signal, armed men seemed to spring from 
every corner of the corral. 

The place seemed packed. 

Escape was apparently impossible. 

Plainly our two heroes could not go forward. 

The two pals who had faced so many dangers 
and circumvented the machinations of scores of evil- 
doers and others seemed well nigh at the end of 
their rope. 

"Money talks 'round here!" 

These words, uttered by Buttermilk Charley, as 
if to taunt his victims, seemed only to spur their 
wits. 

We will here explain that Terrible Teddy, while 
waiting in well feigned idleness to rescue the coveted 
cherry, had in reality not been idle. 

He had carefully noted a soft spot in one of 
Buttermilk Charley's fences. 

Little suspecting at the time how soon he might 
have use for that discovery, the recollection yet now 
came back to him with the rush of a forgotten letter. 



Money Talks 'Round Here 113 

With a secret code, known only to himself and 
his confederate, he soon put Peaceful Bill in posses- 
sion of his discovery and a hastily improvised plan 
of action. 

While Terrible Teddy produced from his pocket 
a blank commission for consul to Valdavia, in order 
to distract the attention of old Charley and his hun- 
gry outfit, Peaceful Bill stretched forth his arms as 
if to yawn. 

In an instant, with one upheavel of his giant 
shoulders, the Shack was in ruins. 

There were roars of baffled rage. 

Those of the outfit who were not killed were 
groping in the ruins for the blank commission. 

Buttermilk Charley alone retained his coolness. 

He didn't know how to lose it. 

"Company, fall in," he exclaimed with alacrity. 

But his well trained cow-punchers had lost their 
heads when most needed. 

Again and again Buttermilk Charley's signal of 
the crisp treasury notes barked on the night air. 

"Curse them," muttered the enraged leader, "and 
I counted on them to the last ditch." 

As the torn and twisted timbers settled to the 



ii4 Terrible Teddy and Peace fid Bill 

earth, Buttermilk Charley sprang forward in hopes 
to intercept his prey. 

But Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill were gone. 

Where they had stood there remained only a torn 
scrap of paper thus inscribed : 
"Number four." 



CHAPTER XIX 

THE GAP IN THE BARRIER 

"They must not leave this place alive !" 

The words with which we open this chapter came 
from between the clenched teeth of Buttermilk Char- 
ley. 

More alive than dead, the now thoroughly aroused 
ranger had gathered the remnants of his outfit about 
him. 

"Man the fences," he ordered tersely, with an 
instinct born of precaution. 

"Hurrah fur Charley," cried those nearest to their 
leader, after they had convinced themselves that 
Peaceful Bill had wholly withdrawn. "Hurrah fur 
Charley!" 

Almost at the same instant an unusual sound rose 
from a far corner of the corral. 

"Thither," roared Buttermilk Charley, "and a 
gaugership to the first man that brings me word of 
the fugitives." 

115 



n6 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

Spurred on by this incentive, the uninjured cow- 
punchers reformed and advanced vigorously. 

An additional coolness suddenly shot through 
Buttermilk Charley's frame. 

He recalled a temporary breach in his fence which 
he had detected but a few days before and had not 
yet repaired. 

For a moment he hoped Terrible Teddy and 
Peaceful Bill would not see it. 

If they had discovered the soft spot he would 
even now be too late. 

Had they done so ? 

With his knowledge of his old boss and Peaceful 
Bill, he feared they had. 

But hold ! 

A cry of joy rose to the lips of the determined 
leader. 

A familiar black hulk spoke louder than words. 

His quarry had found the break in his fence, but 
as yet they had made no use of it. 

Quickly disposing of his forces so as to head off 
escape to the right or left, Buttermilk Charley, with 
his trusty forty-fours glinting in the gloom, dashed 
forward. 



The Gap in the Barrier 117 

"Now, gentlemen, I'll trouble ye fur thet cherry." 

Terrible Teddy promptly elevated his hands. 

In one of them sparkled the scarlet globule. 

He had knuckled to the inevitable. 

Buttermilk Charley, his eyes glued to the coveted 
sphere, lowered his weapons. 

The chase seemed at an end. 

Meanwhile where was Peaceful Bill ? 

While these events were rapidly transpiring a 
dimly outlined form was edging nearer and nearer 
the soft spot in the chaparral barrier. 

As Terrible Teddy held forth the fatal lure, 
Peaceful Bill had nicely adjusted his Porthosonian 
frame in close juxtaposition to the fence. 

Just as Buttermilk Charley's guns deflected from 
the horizontal, there was a deep sigh as if from one 
in distress. 

Then, in response to Peaceful Bill's deep breath, 
there was a sudden crash and the trick was turned. 

Bill had forced the fence and was gone. 

Terrible Teddy, sucked up in the vortex, disap- 
peared in the vacuum like a bean in a blow-gun. 

A few choice expletives followed him. 

Then, with a muffled cry of rage, Buttermilk 



n8 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill * 

Charley began folding himself like a jackknife. 

It was the quick and desperate resolve of a mad- 
man. 

He meant to force his own elongated form 
through the same hole even at the risk of unbend- 
ing. 

Before even this lightning-like resolve could be 
put into execution, a mass of speeches, statistics, 
addresses to youth, and hundreds of worn half-tone 
plates poured into the gap like a veritable Niagara. 

Again was pursuit cut off. 

Once more was Buttermilk Charley foiled. 

But by whom ? 

With a more voluminous increase in the expletives 
just described, the baffled Ranger unjointed himself 
and arose until he towered high over the corral 
fence. 

A boyish-looking individual, with a leonine lock 
and one hand thrust Webster-like in his frock coat, 
stood facing him. 

"And who are you who have thus betrayed me?" 
Buttermilk Charley hissed, peering into the Stygian 
night. 

" Tis I, Young Albert, the boy orator." 




'TIS T, YOUNG ALBERT, THE BOY ORATOR" 



120 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

Duplicating his previous tone, the now completely 
annoyed Ranger continued : 

"You little know what you have done." 

"Don't I?" came the quick response, "I know 
everything." 

In another moment the combat was on. 

Nearby, a large, heavy man with a dark mous- 
tache was an interested spectator of the conflict. 

"Pardner," he finally remarked naively to a com- 
panion by his side, who was affectionately stroking 
a cherry, "I reckon as how the kid has saved our 
lives." 

"I reckon," acquiesced his companion, with the 
semblance of a yawn. 



CHAPTER XX 

THE YOUTHFUL ADVENTURERS 

To relieve the reader's suspense, we will now 
revert for a short time to another thread of our 
thrilling narrative. 

It will be recalled that Silver Bill Brennings, 
after his almost miraculous escape in the air-craft, 
Public Ownership, found himself dashing madly to 
the earth. 

In his extremity, it will also be remembered, he 
had finally, by the skin of his teeth, saved himself 
by throwing overboard a bulky volume containing 
the address he had delivered after Magellanizing 
the globe. 

The end of the chapter found Silver Bill safely 
afloat again and the book dropping down! down! 
down ! 

Not to weary our readers, we will omit repetition 
here of what immediately happened to Silver Bill. 

121 



122 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

We have already followed him to the camp of 
the Mocrats and seen his precipitate departure in 
response to imperative demands. 

Was he, in truth, on his way to Wawassee, 
Indiana ? 

But we must not anticipate. 

Fortunate it was for Silver Bill that Terrible 
Teddy had not taken this particular treasure. 

The volume contained Silver Bill's plans and 
specifications for making a Public Ownership craft 
of his own. 

Kind friends told him it wouldn't work. 

In his impetuosity he scorned their advice. 

Then he printed his plans, and the experts rose 
up in their might. 

Silver Bill, discarding his own prospectus, bought 
a second-hand ship. 

We have seen the result. 

What had become of the prized but useless 
treasure that he cast overboard ? 

Midway between the camp of the Free Rangers 
and the village of the savage Mocrats was a bit 
of alkali ground that no one frequented. 

That is, almost no one. 



The Youthful 'Adventurers 123 

But, a short time before our narrative opens, two 
hardy youths, tired of the luxuries of an effete 
civilization, suddenly and mysteriously appeared in 
this desert space. 

In company with them were a few venerable old 
men. 

With youthful impetuosity, the young adventur- 
ers had come into the West to fight Injuns and have 
fun with the cowpunchers. 

Their inspiration was undoubtedly those lurid 
and reprehensible romances once, alas, so popular 
with our youth. 

Saturated with these fevered and distorted tales, 
they had planned to become dare-devil leaders or 
chiefs. 

In order that this might be possible, they had, 
on their way to their chosen field of operations, hired 
a band of aged pensioners to accompany them. 

Having made an encampment, the young adven- 
turers at once formed an oath-bound society or 
league, of which the password was "Independence." 

And, periodically, to the firing of blank cartridges 
and with profuse illuminations of red fire, sessions 
of the league were held. 



124 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

It was harmless sport for the exuberant youths 
and something for the pensioners to talk about. 

Between meetings, the two chums were wont to 
amuse themselves by writing romances, tales of 
wonder and imaginary exhortations against the 
time when they might find real Injuns and cow- 
punchers to assault. 

These youthful adventurers were none other than 
Randolph Curst and Artie Tisvain. 

On a certain evening, these youths were thus 
engaged, in a crude, juvenile way, when Artie, 
speaking in large caps, as was his wont, ex- 
claimed : 

"HERE'S A CORKER!" 

He exposed for his chum's examination the sub- 
joined lucubration : 

We have RECEIVED the following SUGGES- 
TIVE letter: 

What, in your judgment, if you have any, is the 
comparative nutritive value of the turnip? 

Rob. D. Nuit. 

RICHELIEU, the great Cardinal of France, was 
no WOMAN! What was HE? The value of a 



The Youthful 'Adventurers 125 

turnip is gauged by the use made of it. If Theodore 
Roos " 

Bang! 

Randolph Curst, or Randy, as we shall hereafter 
describe him, to whom Artie Tisvain was reading 
the above, suddenly disappeared with great rapidity. 

There was every evidence that he had been 
crushed by some ponderous falling object. 

The evidence was in reality at that moment lying 
on top of the prostrate Randy. 

It was Silver Bill Brenning's heavy speech that 
had hit the youthful adventurer squarely on the 
head. 



CHAPTER XXI 

THE NATIONAL BURLESQUERS 

"Where am I at?" 

The injured man, for such his prostrate position 
and a dent in his head proclaimed him, had fallen 
in his tracks. 

For a brief instant no sound came from him. 

Then his lips moved, but his lips only, the balance 
of his form remaining as rigid as though frozen 
in death. 

"Where am I at?" he repeated spasmodically. 

"I'll be gol darned if I know." 

The answer came from Artie Tisvain, who had 
just reached his chum's side. 

Although Artie spoke in low, firm tones, his voice 
was soft and sweetly modulated. 

The dazed Randy was plainly out of his head. 

Again his lips moved. 

126 



The National Burlesquers 127 

"I want and advocate," he murmured half audi- 
bly, "the public ownership of Public Utilities as fast 
as municipal, state and national governments shall 
demonstrate their fitness to conduct such utilities 
properly. I want and advocate the purchase and 
operation of the telegraph systems by the govern- 
ment. I want " 

Artie Tisvain threw himself beside his friend. 

As he did so he fell over Silver Bill's big book. 

"I see it all," he exclaimed; "the blow has almost 
killed him. I fear the worst." 

He deftly inserted his hand in Randy's pocket, 
and the unconscious youth sprang up with a con- 
vulsive start. 

Artie knew how to rouse him. 

Randy appeared dazed but happy. 

Ere Artie could raise a hand to stay his friend, 
Randy had seized the book and was rapidly and 
voraciously perusing its pages with the avidity of a 
marine artist reconstructing the navy. 

"What volume is this that is so intensely absorb- 
ing?" politely inquired young Tisvain. 

"It is a message from on high ; the secret we long 
have sought. We can now make a ship of our own 



128 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

and leave this cursed spot. In it we will go forth 
and seek further adventures." 

"Pray give me the name of the author," con- 
tinued Artie, as he manicured his nails. 

"What boots it?" petulantly replied the busy 
reader, delicately feeling the bump on his head. 

"And yet I would know, for reasons of my own," 
said Artie, almost sharply. 

Randy, to humor him, turned to the title-page, 
which had as yet escaped his attention — he usually 
read things backwards. 

"Merciful Heavens !" 

With these words the volume dropped from his 
suddenly palsied fingers. 

"Silver Bill Brenning's," exclaimed young Artie, 
feverishly, "and my stuff. I suspected as much." 

Randy Curst's frame swayed with emotion. 

"To think," he exclaimed, "that it was your work, 
Artie, that so nearly put me out." 

Artie Tisvain, sometimes known as the youth 
with the human heart, seemed fired with a sudden 
resolve. 

"And now," he commented curtly as he reversed 
his cuffs, for the younger of the two boy adventur- 



The National Burlesquers 129 

ers was neat and careful in his attire, "since we 
are upon the villain's track, our work is cut out. 
We have been discovered. Until Silver Bill has 
been trailed and put out of business we are not 
safe." 

Would this delicate youth do murder? 

Randy Curst's blood dropped in temperature. 

"What are your plans, Artie?" Randy continued, 
as he hastily concealed his check-book. 

"These! Silver Bill stole these plans from me 
while I was yet a schoolboy. By returning them 
in this peremptory manner, he has added injury to 
insult. He is in this vicinity for no good purpose. 
The theft he committed is but an earnest of others 
that will follow. We shall follow and foil him." 

"But how?" 

"Look!" 

Day was just breaking. 

Far to the west a thin curl of blue smoke rose 
lazily. 

It marked the camp and village of the Mocrats. 

High above the encampment, the hazy outlines 
of an airship could just be descried. 

It was slowly, slowly dropping earthward. 



130 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

''Some belated wayfarer of the skies," suggested 
Randy Curst. 

Young Tisvain smiled. 

"Perhaps you did not observe that the axis of 
the volume that so impressed us extended east and 
west !" 

Randy began to understand. 

Hastily drawing a check in favor of his less 
financially endowed friend, he remarked : 

"I begin to see. Pray continue." 

"That airship contains Silver Bill !" 

"Then what?" 

"Silver Bill is out of a job." 

"Well?" 

"The Mocrats have advertised for a leader. He 
who will be our victim is seeking that opening." 

"It's his only avocation." 

"You mean vocation." 

"Thank you kindly, Artie," replied Randy, hastily 
drawing another munificent check in favor of his 
chum; "you are ever thoughtful." 

"That being true, if he does not get the job. he 
will starve to death." 

Randy Curst clasped his chum's hand in gratitude. 




RANDY AND ARTIE DISGUISED AS BURLBSQUERS FOOL 
SILVER BILL 



132 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

Then he checked himself. 

Checks were commonplaces with him. 

"But how will we prevent this?" he exclaimed, 
delicately running his fingers over the dent in his 
head, and wincing. 

"Nothing simpler. We will collect the little rem- 
nant of our oath-bound band and disguise ourselves 
as a wandering burlesque troupe to be known as 
the 'National, Transcontinental and Illinois Favor- 
ites.' Safe from detection, we will visit the Mocrat 
Encampment. Ere doing so we will print a sum- 
mary of this fatal book, and while our performance 
is going on, some of our band will distribute the 
pamphlet. On it in red ink we'll stamp, 'Silver Bill 
Brennings and What He's Going to Do'." 

"And then " exclaimed Randy, fired into 

enthusiasm. 

"The Indians who do not want airships will begin 
to argue with those who do. A quarrel and a split 
is certain." 

"And between the two factions, Silver Bill will 
fail to get the job of chief?" 

"Precisely." 

"And starve to death?" 



Tlte National Burlesquers 133 

" Tis a hard word," murmured Artie, "but I 
hope so." 

***** * 

As Silver Bill hurried eastward that bright, smil- 
ing morning, he passed, by the roadside, a ragged 
troupe of mendicant burlesquers. 

"Poor devils," he muttered, tossing them a coin. 

Many days later, recalling the incident, he kicked 
himself vigorously and often. 

"To think," he muttered bitterly to himself, "I 
seen 'em comin' and didn't know 'em." 



CHAPTER XXII 

OLD SHUCKS, THE DETECTIVE 

We left Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill, inter- 
ested spectators of the combat between young 
Albert, the Boy Orator, and Buttermilk Charley. 

Perceiving that the altercants would probably kill 
each other, the contest soon palled upon Terrible 
Teddy. 

"Let's go hence from here," he suggested after a 
few moments, "whar there is sompin doing !" 

The strain of the pace was beginning to tell upon 
Peaceful Bill. 

"But whither?" he asked. "Can't we go home?" 

"Eventually," laughed his companion, tantaliz- 
ingly; "just now we'll see how Old Joke Annon's 
corral looks in his absence." 

They well knew that this veteran ranger was 
still standing guard on the trail over near the Big 
Corral. 

But they knew, too, that his outfit slept little. 
134 



Old Shucks, the Detective 135 

Some one was usually found there ready for 
business. 

Hastily drawing on the gum shoes that they 
always carried with them, the two men slipped into 
Old Joke's compound. 

Strangely enough, the corral gates were wide 
open. 

But no sooner had the two rangers entered than 
these portals sprang to behind their backs, with 
a sharp click. 

Three shots in rapid succession rang out upon 
the lambent night air. 

"A signal," hoarsely whispered Terrible Teddy. 

"Trapped, or I'm a maverick," responded his com- 
panion, in low tones. 

During the foregoing brief colloquy, the two 
rangers rapidly readjusted their weapons, and 
Peaceful Bill slipped on a second pair of gum shoes. 

It was a night for dark deeds. 

An inky sky dropped an impenetrable pall upon 
the earth. 

Far away in the mesquite, a jack-rabbit barked. 

There was something ominous in the sound. 

Then, again, all was still. 



136 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

A quick glance at the chaparral fence revealed no 
soft spots. 

Old Joke had an eye to that. 

Should they reveal themselves and ask for mercy ? 

No! 

A thousand times, No! 

A false move might mean death itself. 

Too late they recalled that Old Joke wanted the 
job that Terrible Teddy was about to award his 
fellow-ranger, Peaceful Bill. 

And worse, there were rumors that his outfit 
was out for the goods. 

Suddenly, to the trained ears of the two plains- 
men, there came a faint sound. 

In the almost impenetrable gloom they could yet 
discern the quick, surreptitious opening and closing 
of the ponderous gates. 

Some unseen sentinel had admitted a heavily 
cloaked and somberly masked figure. 

The eagle eye of Terrible Teddy could not mis- 
take his man. 

"Bill," he muttered savagely, "it's Uncle Wesley 
Cornhusker, or Old Shucks the Detective." 

Peaceful Bill gasped. 




OLD SHUCKS SHADOWS A CERTAIN PARTY 



138 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

"Then we are lost." 

"I can't be mistaken," whispered Terrible Teddy; 
"he worked for me until I fired him. Now he 

crosses my trail ag'in. But " he loosened his 

trusty bowie. 

"If he's trailing us, thet may mean our salva- 
tion," suddenly exclaimed Peaceful Bill. "Hist!" 

Old Shucks, greatly encumbered by his cloak, 
had inadvertently stumbled over one of Peaceful 
Bill's feet. 

Deftly pushing the detective aside, the two rang- 
ers preserved their incognito for a time, the better 
to observe what trick was about to be turned. 

In the contretemps, Old Shucks' heavy mask 
became detached and fell to the ground. 

Perceiving that the detective had not noticed the 
accident, Terrible Teddy sprang lightly forward and 
proffered the fallen disguise politely to its owner. 

Old Shucks, his Sherlockian mind intent upon 
the work in hand, took the mask brusquely and 
hastened on. 

For a time at least Old Shucks was safe. 

In that brief moment, however, Terrible Teddy 
had seen much. 



Old Shucks, the Detective 139 

Under Old Shucks' arm were several small par- 
cels that might have been bricks. 

Yet the crisp odor that emanated therefrom, to- 
gether with the strident but not unpleasant sound 
resembling a high Treasury note, belied this theory. 

A mysterious card attached to each package bore 
this inscription : 

"Use only in case of emergency. /. P. M." 

It was plain that the parcels, if bricks, were well 
disguised. 



CHAPTER XXIII 

THE HOLE IN THE WALL 

"Pardon me, gentlemen, but I would like to speak 
with you privately a moment." 

These words were addressed to a group of Old 
Joke Annon's henchmen as they were whiling away 
an idle hour with a game of penuchle, by a roughly 
dressed, stoop-shouldered, middle-aged man with 
pensive gray eyes and a touch of near-to-Nature's- 
heart about him. 

A slouch hat and a Scotland Yard cravanette 
partly completed his attire. 

"How dare you address us all together?" they 
replied simultaneously, as their quivering nostrils 
detected a peculiar crisp odor. 

"I am sorry to be under the necessity of so doing, 
and I assure you that I have no intention of being 
rude," the stranger replied. 

"You are no detective?" casually remarked one 
of those addressed. 

140 



The Hole in the Wall 141 

The rough figure gave an almost perceptible start. 

"Ain't I, though?" he replied, proudly displaying 
a large German-silver badge. 

"Then put on yer mask," his interlocutor replied. 

The stranger now gave a real start. 

Engrossed with the delicate nature of his task, 
he had quite forgotten the mask that Terrible Teddy 
had handed him, and which he yet carried in his 
hand. 

Hastily adjusting it, and simultaneously and ap- 
parently negligently scattering a few shreds of corn- 
shucks about him, the stranger awaited develop- 
ments. 

A youth who had a moment to spare confronted 
him. 

"You are Old Shucks the Detective?" the youth 
remarked nonchalantly. 

"That is my name, sir." 

"You will not be offended if I tell you a few 
things?" 

"No, sir." 

"You have in your possession certain packages 
of a peculiarly grateful odor?" 



142 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

"I have." 

'They are to be used in case of emergency?" 

"Quite true." 

"What emergency brings you hither?" 

'Tm shadowin' a certain party." 

"His name?" 

"Peaceful Bill, the terror of the Free Rangers/' 

"Your principal?" 

"Parties as shall be nameless." 

"Then what?" 

"I'm to put the come-alongs on him." 

"His punishment?" 

"Death." 

"I see," remarked his inquisitor. "And his 
offense?" 

"Not givin' none !" 

"Why do you do this?" 

"My needs are desperate." 

"Is it monetary need that drives you to this 
dreadful occupation, or simply a desire for gold?" 

"Under ordinary circumstances I would esteem 
it a privilege to argue motives and causes. As it is. 
time presses. I see I am in wrong, and will with- 
draw." 



The Hole in the Wall 143 

"One moment! These gratifyingly fragrant 
packages? Do you desire to be relieved of them?" 

"They are to be handed to the party who puts 
the come-alongs on my quarry." 

"Then hand them over to these worthy gentle- 
men." exclaimed a rich, robust voice at Old Shucks' 
side. 

In another instant, Peaceful Bill and his pal, 
Terrible Teddy, stepped from the deep shadow into 
the fitful glare of the flickering camp-fire. 

As Peaceful Bill pronounced these startling words 
the two Rangers threw their shooting arms on the 
ground, and the more pronounced of the duo 
extended his bared arms. 

"Hook on the cuffs, gents. I surrender." 

The penuchle game came to an abrupt close. 

"Not a-fore we get them packages," exclaimed a 
disturbed player. 

"That, gentlemen," remarked Peaceful Bill, in a 
voice like a vat of melted butter, "is a matter 
between you and Uncle Wesley." 

"Fur," added his companion, Terrible Teddy, "we 
ain't a-goin' to make no rumpus in Old Joke's 
camp." 



144 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

"If ye'll provide us accommodations, even second- 
rate ones, till this 'ere matter is satisfactory 
adjusted, we'll go along peaceable as yearlin's." 

"I consent," said Old Shucks, selecting a couple 
of pairs of handcuffs and gleefully adjusting them 
for immediate use. "I would have avoided this, but 
I do my duty as I see it. Remember the big one !" 

"Come with me!" 

The spokesman of the outfit thus addressed the 
two prisoners. 

The three men disappeared in the darkness, and 
a moment later the grating of a lock sounded grue- 
somely. 

Rejoining the expectant group, Old Shucks mo- 
tioned his confederates to a shadowed recess, and 
in the dark there was a quick transfer of several 
neat packages. 

No sooner was this done than the relentless and 
wily Sleuth demanded his victims. 

Alert and with handcuffs ready, there was a hasty 
return to the locked apartment. 

The youth, who had so creditably manipulated 
the deal, was apparently ready to make good. 

And yet his hand seemed to tremble as he forced 
the lock. 



The Hole in the Wall 145 

The door flew open, and Old Shucks sprang into 
the apartment. 

It was empty. 

The birds had flown. 

A wave of cold night air sweeping through a 
wide hole in the wall told all. 

With a glance of defiance at the Old Joke outfit 
that had turned the trick on him, Old Shucks ex- 
claimed : 

"Boys, I allow ye hev put one over on the old 
man." 

Concealing his chagrin as well as he could, the 
greatest gum-shoe artist in the West then disap- 
peared through the same hole. 

A few moments later several members of Old 
Joke's outfit might have been seen sitting idly about 
the embers of the almost extinct camp-fire. 

There was a shade of disappoinment on the face 
of each. 

"Anyway," said one of the men, in a chastened 
voice, as he re-sorted a neat pile of brown paper 
cut the size of a treasury note, "it'll make good 
shavin' paper." 



CHAPTER XXIV 

BADGER BOB 

It was now nearly 10 p. m. 

Noting this fact, and taking themselves severely 
to task for their procrastination, our two heroes 
hurried homeward without further digression. 

They kept early hours. 

Particularly Terrible Teddy. 

But he picked them, generally, at the other end 
of the day. 

"Ef it hadn't a-been fur Uncle Wesley Corn- 
husker," remarked Peaceful Bill, referring to the 
Monte Cristo episode in Old Joke Annon's corral, 
"I calkerlate as how we'd a-had a bit o' trouble." 

"Ye kin allers depend on Old Shucks to help a 
friend when he don't mean to," replied Terrible 
Teddy. 

"I'll say this fur him: his work is allers sartin. 
I shell remember him when I git my job." 

The kindly intent in Peaceful Bill's voice was 

146 



Badger Bob 147 

more than emphasized by the nervous twitching of 
his ringers and the peculiar crossing of the second 
digit over each forefinger. 

"Speaking about my job," continued Peaceful 
Bill as the two tried plainsmen approached the Big 
Corral, "how about that little transfer o' sartin 
articles thet ye promised me?" 

"They'll all come, Bill. Don't get on-restless. 
Ain't I stickin' by ye?" 

"Ye air, pardner, clost — night and day. O' course 
I thank ye." 

"As to them vallebles," interrupted Terrible 
Teddy, "ye'll get 'em when yer can use 'em. But 
what's the matter waitin' till the big round-up and 
the final ch'ice comes off? I might need 'em mean- 
while. 

"Teddy," said his companion, sort o' purrin' like, 
"I allow yer goin' to give me a square deal." 

"Bill, ain't this just grand out yere — under the 
stars?" 

"They ain't no stars shinin'." 

"I mean under the moon." 

"The moon is set." 

"Yer splitting hairs, Bill." 



148 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

"I ain't splittin' no treasure yet as I kin see." 

In such merry badinage they completed their un- 
eventful homecoming and were about to pass into 
the Big Corral, when, just outside the gate, a 
medium-sized man of dignified bearing stepped into 
view. 

"Good evening, gentlemen," he exclaimed in the 
French tongue ; "I trust I do not startle you." 

He had been covered instantly by four wicked- 
looking Colts. 

Seeing that the man was a complete stranger, our 
heroes lowered their guns and bade him speak fur- 
ther. 

Observing that those he had accosted did not 
understand his tongue, the stranger, in English, 
rapidly explained that he had come a long journey 
on a personal matter that concerned both the men 
he was addressing. 

He was ushered into the Bunk House. 

The stranger was plainly not a cowpuncher or a 
rustler. 

His garb denoted him to be a trapper. 

There was that in his face that indicated a man 
of intelligence and spirit. 




BADGER BOB SUBMITS TO AN INTERVIEW 



150 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

"Ye must a come a good ways," remarked Ter- 
rible Teddy, observing a return ticket in the man's 
pocket. 

"From the far Northwest." 

"Do you require sustenance," inquired Peaceful 
Bill sympathetically, pausing for a moment in his 
attack upon some smoking viands that had awaited 
our heroes' return. 

"Your provender looks good to me," replied the 
stranger, in broken English and respectfully, but 
standing aloof with even increased reserve and dig- 
nity, "but my wants are few — in that line. In my 
native woods I subsist simply but satisfactorily on 
nuts and milk." 

"Milk in the woods," exclaimed Terrible Teddy, 
ever alert at the sound of a possible anachronism 
in Nature. 

"Certainement !" responded the stranger, drop- 
ping into fragments of his native tongue. "Oui ! 
I get ze nuts from ze nut trees and ze milk from ze 
udders." 

A cachinnating chuckle began to emanate from 
Peaceful Bill when Terrible Teddy, his brow cloud- 
ing, observed tartly : 



Badger Bob 151 

"I do not detect cause fur any levity, Bill!" 

The stranger continued : 

"Messieurs, I have come on a delicate mission. 
Even in my remote retreat I have heard of the 
dispute concerning the successorship to Monsieur," 
bowing to Terrible Teddy. "I am not a cowboy 
or rustler, but I have studied the trade. If the 
dispute continues, would Monsieur," bowing to 
Peaceful Bill, "care to have me take his place?" 

Peaceful Bill sprang to his feet, in rage. 

Terrible Teddy motioned him back. 

"In announcing that my choice is irrevocable and 
positive, and that your offer is unqualifiedly although 
courteously rejected, since I see you are a man of 
parts, I desire to inquire who you may be." 

"Among people of my class I am known merely 
as Sieur Robert. The cannaile commonly address 
me as Badger Bob." 

"And your occupation ?" 

"Scholar and recluse by choice; trapper and path- 
finder in the great northwestern woods by neces- 
sity." 

The man was apparently of a different type from 
those who ordinarily followed his perilous and 
unprofitable vocation. 



152 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

Terrible Teddy produced a small purse of gold. 

"Pardon me, Monsieur," exclaimed the Sieur 
Robert, "I cannot accept charity. I desire employ- 
ment." 

"Then I must tell ye, yer in the wrong pew." 

"One moment," interposed Peaceful Bill, who had 
been apparently thinking hard and fast, "the man 
seems to have his good p'ints " 

He whispered something to Terrible Teddy. 

"Your assistant?" repeated the latter, his brow 
crocheting. 

Then he paused, and our two heroes held a few 
moments of secret converse. 

At its conclusion, Terrible Teddy, showing 
Badger Bob the door, remarked : 

"I don't think there's a thing doin', my good 
man, but ye might come to the big round-up. Yer 
can't tell what might happen." 

"Au revoir," said the Sieur Robert. 

"What's that?" hotly replied Terrible Teddy, 
drawing his gun. 

But the scholarly trapper was gone, and nothing 
was heard but Peaceful Bill finishing his cachin- 
nating chuckle. 



CHAPTER XXV 

WHAT TOOK PLACE IN THE COULEE. 

Toward the close of a hot, sultry day in the month 
of June — on Tuesday, to be explicit — a solitary 
horseman might have been seen slowly wending his 
way down the sloping sides of a coulee such as are 
to be found here and there on the plains of our great 
western states. 

To the right and left of him rode two other 
men whose garb plainly proclaimed them to be scouts 
or guides. 

Immediately in the rear of the three men, and 
carefully guarded by a calvalcade of similarly 
mounted and armed men, a train of heavily laden 
and creaking wagons dragged its sinuous length 
across the untracked prairie. 

From the signs of caution plainly perceptible in 
the alert horsemen, it was apparent that the caravan 
was no ordinary one. 

The very presence of Ben Rich, the veteran scout 
153 



154 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

and guide, now rich beyond the necessity of new 
perils, confirmed this. 

Suddenly, Old Rich, as he was popularly denomi- 
nated, putting spurs to his animal, dashed forward. 

His immediate attendants, apparently reading 
their leader's thought, did likewise. 

Arrived at the bottom of the coulee, or ravine, 
they paused and took the lay of the land. 

Eli Hew, or Taciturn Eli, as he was familiarly 
called, and Pittsburg Phil, the other of Old Rich's 
two confreres, appeared to await their superior's 
verdict with some anxiety. 

"We can conceal ourselves here," said Old Rich, 
finally, "safe from observation. You know your 
instructions." 

Without waiting to participate in the parking of 
the heavily laden wagons, Taciturn Eli and Pitts- 
burg Phil instantly gave rein to their steeds and 
were off in the fast gathering gloom. 

Eli Hew, reserved and silent, was known as the 
best debater on the plains and he had been en- 
gaged as interpreter. 

His fellow guide, Pittsburg Phil, not so well 
known in the west, had been employed because of 



156 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

his well known skill in protecting similar trains in 
the far east. 

It was night — 

And night only as it descends on this portion of 
our beauteous land. 

A million stars were mingling their rays in a 
moonless glow that spilled itself from the inverted 
chalice of the cyan sky. 

The tropic smile of day had passed into the seduc- 
tive languor of Beauty lost in dreams. 

The limitless plain, an echoless void, gave forth 
no sound nor sign of life, until suddenly 

"Clink!" 

The figure of a man, hitherto concealed in the 
shadow of a sage-tree, sank swiftly to the ground. 

With the stealth of an Indian, it made its way to 
the edge of a ravine into which it disappeared. 
. It was Old Rich, sleepless and waiting for his 
emissaries' return. 

"Clink! Clink!" 

Again the golden click sounded. 

Old Rich had well divined the cause. 

Some one in his own gang was tapping a wagon. 

Even in the moonless night, the invincible chief 



What Took Place in the Coulee 157 

scout could make out a dark figure surreptitiously 
helping himself. 

The man, raising the tailboard of one of the big 
wagons, was enticing therefrom a satisfactory 
stream of shining metal. 

With the noiseless tread of a panther, Old Rich 
crept forward. 

In another moment he would have seized the mis- 
creant. 

Just then the man, his hat filled to the brim with 
golden coin, turned and spoke politely. 

"Pleasant evening, Cap. Ye'll find the papers 
right thar under the wagon." 

Old Rich saw a bundle of neatly printed sheets 
on the ground. 

Hastily examining the ornately engraved heading 
on them, he made out : 

"Bond certificate, $100. Pineville and Cypress 
Pan-American Electric Railway (Limited)/' 

"Thar's a thousand of 'em," explained the waiting 
man. 

"Hev they been approved?" 

Old Rich asked this respectfully. 



158 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

"Sartin," replied the man; "don't ye see my name 
writ to 'em?" 

"Then," remarked Old Rich, as he deftly attached 
a new lock to the loose tailboard, "I don't see no 
reason to detain ye." 

Surcharged with pelf, the new magnate was 
slowly making his way out of the coulee, when the 
adroit scout added : 

"Whar is this yer road?" 

Irritated over the protracted delay, the man 
replied, petulantly : 

"I can't say just now. A month ago the saw 
mill was a-workin' in Louisiana. But I reckon it's 
in Texas now, and I allow as mebbe they tuck the 
tracks with 'em." 

At the top of a tree a bird twittered. 

The withdrawing man struck it dead with a 
double-eagle. 

Then, to make sure he was not followed, he 
glanced back into the starlit coulee. 

Old Rich was doing a little thinking. 



CHAPTER XXVI 

A DEAL IN THE DARK 

We will now relate briefly and succinctly what 
happened to Old Rich's assistants, Taciturn Eli and 
Pittsburg Phil. 

Like a gust of wind, the two horsemen dashed 
out of the coulee and were soon lost to sight. 

The chosen camping-place of Old Rich was in 
the almost dry bed of a small tributary of Salt 
Creek, just where the smaller stream debouched into 
the main waterway. 

Across this latter stream lay the Free Range. 

Some miles to the right was the encampment of 
Terrible Teddy. 

Eli Hew and Pittsburg Phil did not draw rein 
until they had reached the vicinity of the Big Corral. 

While yet some distance away, they dismounted, 
threw the reins over the heads of their panting 
steeds, and then, with a skill born of long expe- 

159 



160 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

rience, hastily disguised themselves as lawyers and 
advanced confidently to the corral. 

To heighten the verisimilitude of their assumed 
vocations, they did not proceed directly thither, but, 
after a series of circumlocutions, paused finally 
opposite the back door and gave a short, high 
whistle. 

At the same time, in case their signal should mis- 
carry, they loosened their ready injunctions. 

But all went well. 

The figure of a man with a discolored eye, an 
impediment in his speech, and his arm in a sling, 
slipped through the area and stole stiffly toward the 
strangers. 

It was Rough Deal George. 

"What detained ye?" 

It was Taciturn Eli speaking sharply. 

"You were to meet us at the coulee and pilot us 
through the Free Range," added Pittsburg Phil. 

"I am watched and cannot leave." 

"I suspected as much," scornfully interrupted 
Eli ; "I think you have frigid pedal extremities." 

"That is as may be," replied Rough Deal George, 
regretfully, "but I am not guiding at present." 



A Deal in the Dark 161 

"What has happened?" inquired Pittsburg Phil, 
with well-feigned sympathy, for in truth there was 
no love lost between the three men. 

"Read that," exclaimed Rough Deal George, 
producing a letter : 

Dear George: In June I will arrive, in charge 
of a trading expedition. Your boss, Terrible 
Teddy, has sworn that I shall not do business on the 
Free Range. It is well known that he has ammuni- 
tion on hand in the shape of bombs. Your instruc- 
tions are to secure or spike these bombs, and meet 
us at the coulee to act as our guide. The scouts 
I bring with me are not to be known in the matter. 

Old Rich. 

"I secured one of 'em," added Rough Deal 
George. "Ef ye want the others, go get 'em." 

"Then our visit here is fruitless?" 

"I am temporarily incapacitated," replied Rough 
Deal George, "to my regret. But I have not been 
idle." 

Thereupon he imparted in an undertone certain 
information to the impatient scouts. 

Five minutes later Taciturn Eli and Pittsburg 
Phil were a-horse again. 



1 62 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

Nor did they slacken pace until, well into the 
Free Range, their dripping steeds stood outside the 
silent and tight stockade of Old Joke Annon's corral. 

Was there a magic in the instructions that Rough 
Deal George had imparted ? 

Slowly but distinctly, Taciturn Eli repeated three 
times the simple words, "A cabinet job." 

Almost instantly the ponderous and double-locked 
gates opened and a group of cowpunchers, some of 
the best in Old Joke's outfit, ran silently forward. 

"We desire to hold converse with the boss," 
explained Pittsburg Phil, trembling for fear Old 
Joke might be among those present. 

But his fears were groundless, and the bluff went. 

Old Joke was still standing pat on guard duty 
over near the Big Corral. 

"We represent a party o' traders who desire to 
pass through the Range with a train of goods," 
explained Eli Hew. "My friend and me is guards, 
but the Eastern Amalgamated Union of Scouts and 
Guides forbids us working in this territory. We're 
here fur some local men, and the right ones will be 
paid well." 

After the stampede had subsided, and some of 







OLP JOKE ANNON WAS STILL STANDING PAT 



164 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

the volunteers had regretfully retired, Taciturn Eli 
and Pittsburg Phil were off again with a squad of 
Old Joke's best men close at their heels. 

Old Rich had scarcely finished counting the bond 
certificates of the Pineville and Cypress Railroad, 
and the first faint streaks of dawn were just illu- 
mining the distant horizon, when the sharp clatter 
of hoofs was heard and a dozen horsemen galloped 
swiftly into view. 

"Saved," muttered the grizzled leader, as he rec- 
ognized the trusted lieutenants. "But who are these 
men ?" 

Pittsburg Phil rapidly acquainted him with the 
situation. 

An exclamation of rage escaped Old Rich. 

"Fools," he roared, "ye should 'a brought Rough 
Deal George at any expense. I suspect that man. 
He may betray us yet. And Old Joke?" he added, 
nervously. 

"He does not know," answered Taciturn Eli, with 
ill-concealed trepidation. 

"Mebbe not," roared Old Rich, "mebbe not. But 
ye can't tell. Our salvation now is to cross the Salt, 



A Deal in the Dark 165 

do our tradin' and escape afore the word gets out. 
We advance at once." 

The signal was given and the sleeping cavalcade 
turned out. 

While a hasty breakfast was under way there 
was a whispered confab between the guides from 
Old Joke's outfit and then a spokesman advanced 
and, sombrero in hand, addressed Old Rich cogently. 

"How about the mazuma?" 

Old Rich's scowl passed into a smile and he went 
to one of the wagons. 

In a moment he returned with an armful of small 
packages resembling bricks in form, but emitting a 
crisp odor and a rasping but not unpleasant sound, 
like a high Treasury note. 

"Thank ye kindly," remarked the spokesman, gaz- 
ing for a moment on the packages, "only oncet ef 
ye please. Kind regards to Uncle Wesley." 

And the Old Joke outfit turned and rode rapidly 
away without even a farewell. 



CHAPTER XXVII 

AT LAST 

Badger Bob had gone and Peaceful Bill and Ter- 
rible Teddy were alone in the Bunk House. 

The exciting adventures of the day and the wan- 
ing night might have suggested sleep, but such 
seemed foreign to the eyes of each. 

In the low light of the richly furnished apartment 
the Treasure Box might be seen in its accustomed 
place on an escritoire. 

Peaceful Bill finally broke the silence. 

"Come to think of it, Teddy — an' I can't fur the 
life o' me tell how it ever got into my head — we 
ain't made our little deal yit. Ye was a-goin' to 
give me sompin out o' that thar box." 

Terrible Teddy yawned. 

"Hadn't ye better shet the winder, Bill? I kin 
feel the south wind purty strong." 

Peaceful Bill shuddered. 

He had felt it himself. 

166 



At Last 167 

"Why don't ye go to bed, Teddy?" he asked. 

"Why don't you?" 

"O, I'm jist wakin' up!" 

Terrible Teddy eyed his chosen successor suspi- 
ciously. 

What did he mean ? 

"I guess I'll read awhile," remarked Terrible 
Teddy, settling his athletic, but somewhat off-form 
frame in an easy chair and taking a novel from his 
pocket. 

It was labeled, "His Struggle With Himself, or 
Did He Wed the Girl?" 

Peaceful Bill, a look of seeming determination 
spreading over his wealth of countenance, did like- 
wise and was soon lost in the pages of "The Young 
Circumnavigator, or Was He in Right?" 

For a time no sound was heard but the movement 
of Peaceful Bill's sympathetic lips. 

Thus an hour passed. 

"Why don't ye go to bed, Teddy — ye need your 
strenth." 

"O, I don't know," replied the other; "it's gettin* 
near the end and I want to see how it comes out." 

"What's it about?" 



1 68 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

"A fellow that's a sidin' up to a gal don't know 
whether he's in love. An' then he thinks he is an' 
he don't know ef she'll hev him." 

"How does it end ?" inquired his companion. 

Terrible Teddy threw the book from him with a 
cry of rage. 

"Continued," he exclaimed, "it don't tell." 

Peaceful Bill yawned. 

Terrible Teddy began to look over his shooting 
irons. 

Peaceful Bill gave every sign of impatience. 

It is useless to disguise the fact that he was ill at 
ease. 

It is now necessary to explain that, among his 
other accomplishments, Peaceful Bill was a skilled 
ventriloquist. 

At this juncture, and while apparently again en- 
grossed with the tale, he suddenly threw his voice 
into a far corner of the Big Corral and made a 
sound like a naval surgeon writing a letter. 

Another instant and he was alone. 

"I would have avoided this," muttered Peaceful 
Bill, "but I must be taken alive." 




'GREAT SCOTT! BUNKOED!" 



170 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

With a swift motion he had the Treasure Box in 
his hands. 

It was but the work of a moment to force the lid. 

Great Scott! 

He had been buncoed ! 

The sole contents of the chest were a volume of 
Roget's Thesaurus, a puzzle entitled "The Fleet in 
the Pacific— Can You Get It Out," and the one 
treasure that he feared Teddy might thrust upon 
him — the plan entitled "Tariff Revision." 

With a quick hasty oath he abstracted the latter, 
determined that this at least should never be his, 
and with a cry of baffled rage returned the Box 
whence he had taken it. 

Now to conceal what he had taken. 

But where? 

It must not be found upon his person. 

A thousand places flashed through his mind, but 

none of them dark and secure enough. 

******* 

"Don't move or speak! Keep still and you will 
not be harmed." 

It was a man who spoke. A black mask covered 



At Last 171 

his face to his chin. In one hand he held a dark 
lantern and in the other a monkey wrench. 

The burglar, for such his unwarranted presence, 
supplemented by his disguise and threatening atti- 
tude, proclaimed him, advanced slowly. 

"Promise me," the cloaked intruder remarked in 
silvery tones, "that you will not sit upon me, and 
you are perfectly safe." 

As these words fell from the lips of the masked 
figure, an elegant little French clock which stood 
upon the marble mantle tinkled the hour. 

'Twas twelve ! 

" Tis later than I thought. I have not a moment 
to spare. Where are the jewels?" 

"You will find them in yonder Treasure Box on 
the ormulu escritoire," respectfully answered Peace- 
ful Bill. "Take casket and all and begone." 

Three quick strides and the Box was beneath the 
intruder's cloak. 

As the man turned, Peaceful Bill, with one of his 
old but not forgotten tricks, deftly concealed the 
Tariff Revision plan beneath the burglar's belt. 

Then, as the intruder glided once more across the 



172 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

room in retreat, Peaceful Bill quickly turned on the 
gas at a bracket of the chandelier above his head. 

Seizing a match from a delicately carved stand, he 
struck it and quickly thrust the sputtering Lucifer 
over the current of escaping gas. 

In an instant the room was flooded with a brilliant 
light. 

With a smothered curse the thief turned. 

As he did so, his mask was jerked partly aside, 
and Peaceful Bill caught an instant's glimpse of a 
part of the villain's face — his jaw. 

It was Silver Bill Brennings. 



CHAPTER XXVIII 

FOILED AGAIN 

As our readers have surmized, Silver Bill's with- 
drawal from the Mocrat Camp was but a ruse. 

Seeing that he had nothing to lose at Big Smoke's 
hands, he had, with the connivance of a trusted and 
well-paid friend, prepared and sent to himself the 
forged telegram. 

Thus covering his tracks, he had disguised him- 
self as a Japanese wrestler and obtained easy ad- 
mission into the Big Corral. 

Concealing himself behind a convenient tree, he 
had awaited a propitious hour to strike. 

As he emerged from the Bunk House, the long- 
sought treasures in his possession once more, he 
found himself beneath the fitful glare of a nearby 
lamp. 

"Now, fur a peek at the beauties," he muttered. 

Wrenching open the lid, he gave one glance and 
the Treasure Box fell from his nerveless fingers. 

173 



174 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

"Sold!" 

His hand flew to his trusty wrench, but it was too 
late. 

Already the cyclonic disturbance within the Bunk 
House told him that something was doing there. 

Yet, frugal and thrifty to the bitter end, he made 
a momentary examination of the mocking contents 
of the Box. 

Then, slipping the Thesaurus into his pocket, he 
adroitly returned the Pacific Fleet puzzle to the 
Box, caught the chest in his anger-distorted fingers 
and, with a blood curdling imprecation, hurled it 
through the window of the Bunk House. 

"Fur whoever wants it," he hissed. 

"There is but one weak spot in my heart," he 
muttered to himself, "I once had a mother. Were 
it not so the villains who have undone me had paid 
the penalty for this with their lives." 

Then, hastily changing his disguise to a conven- 
tional attire, he strode haughtily away into the night 
toward the thin spiral of blue smoke that marked 
the Mocrat Camp. 

The next day broke dull and lowering. 

Leaden clouds portended rain. 



Foiled Again 175 

Terrible Teddy, succumbing at last to the trying 
adventures of the night, slept heavily and did not 
arise until five o'clock. 

Peaceful Bill arose soon after — at ten. 

"Bill," remarked Terrible Teddy, somewhat icily, 
but not unkindly, at their simple dejeuner, "wot do 
ye s'pose kem o' that Tariff thing?" 

"I hid it on him." 

For a moment the two strong men sat looking at 
each other in silence, and then Terrible Teddy 
reached forth a trembling arm and grasped Peaceful 
Bill's hand. 

"Shake." 

******* 

Engrossed the day before with their preparations 
for the attack on Billy Whiskers' blow-out, our two 
heroes had not found time to bury their dead. 

They now prepared, with something akin to pleas- 
ure, for the incineration of False Alarm Joe's re- 
mains. 

"Never mind," remarked Peaceful Bill, when they 
found that the body had disappeared, "he shore 
ain't a-comin' back no more. 

And yet, even as they spoke, False Alarm Joe was 



176 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

back in his own corral anointing certain scalped 
postmasters with the best hair tonic he could find, 
and looking for better. 

"Any way/' suggested Terrible Teddy, in a dry, 
professional tone, "we've got a little undertakin' to 
do with Rough Deal George." 

Hastily repairing to the scene of Rough Deal 
George's explosion, they found that member of the 
outfit wearing a discolored eye and his arm in a 
sling, hard at work on his accounts. 

The wounded paymaster intimated that he de- 
sired to see his superior alone for a moment. 

At the conclusion of the brief interview, Rough 
Deal George resumed his labors and Terrible Teddy 
led Peaceful Bill quietly away. 

"Did ye hear what he said, Bill?" anxiously re- 
marked the Boss of the Corral. 

"I observed he has no present impediment in his 
speech," replied Peaceful Bill. 

"He ain't," thoughtfully replied Terrible Teddy, 
"he ain't." 

Somehow Terrible Teddy was far from talkative. 

At last Peaceful Bill, with well assumed careless- 
ness, remarked : 



Foiled Again 177 

"Pardner, not as it's any o' my business, but what 
kem o' all them treasures as was in the box?" 

"Them?" said Terrible Teddy, as if trying to re- 
call the matter. "O, them! Why, Bill, there was 
too many a-gittin' to know whar they wuz. I al- 
lowed I'd better put 'em away fur safe keepin'. Thar 
in hyar," and he tapped his breast pocket lovingly. 

"An' when do I git what ye promised?" 

"Bill, I don't want you to think I ain't kep faith. 
I said I would and I'm a-goin' to." 

"Thank ye." 

"Here's what I been a-savin' fur ye, an' I don't 
want ye to say I didn't tote fair." 

Terrible Teddy handed Peaceful Bill what Silver 
Bill had left— "The Fleet in the Pacific" puzzle. 

The tall, herculean figure of Peaceful Bill heaved 
with emotion. 

Was it gratitude? 

Hardly. 

"It ain't no use, pardner. You're stallin' me. Ye 
know I can't work it. I don't want it." 



CHAPTER XXIX 

THE ROUND-UP 

Those of our young readers who are familiar with 
"Silver Bill's Fast, or The Slave of the Lyceum," 
need not be informed that this famed renegade was 
not the man to be put out by his failure to cop the 
Treasure Box. 

Previous disappointments had inured him. 

Putting a bold face on the situation, although bit- 
terly disappointed, he tapped his previously recov- 
ered and prized Trust Control chart and chuckled. 

"This at least," he muttered, "is mine. Would 
that I had more." 

Then his hand touched the Tariff Revision Plans 
that Peaceful Bill had skilfully and surreptitiously 
forced upon him. 

With a shrill, piercing scream of joy, he caught 
them to his breast. 

"Thank Heaven!" he almost sobbed, "saved at 
last. The villain little knows what he has done." 

178 



The Round-Up 179 

Pausing only long enough to disguise an old lec- 
ture as a new one, with the aid of Teddy's Thesau- 
rus, in order that he might afford himself temporary 
sustenance, Silver Bill hiked hurriedly hence to the 
land of the Mocrats. 

What he did there, and how, may well be the sub- 
ject of another tale. 

******* 

That next day sped swiftly, and then another. 

So, indeed, passed a third. 

Then, the habit becoming fixed, time passed more 
rapidly. 

The dry season was upon the plains. 

Great waves of heated air rose and fell blightingly 
upon the corrals of the Free Range. 

Still standing steadfastly guarding the trail near 
the Big Corral, Old Joke Annon stirred uneasily. 

Sounds from his own corral had come faintly to 
him, but soon all was still again and the veteran 
plainsman slumbered once more. 

"He shall not pass this way," murmured the old 
man, as the dream picture of a large, portly man 
hazed itself before him, "unless he uses force." 

Could he hold the pass ? 



180 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

In Billy Whiskers' Camp the ever busy leader 
watched and waited for the momentous day, with a 
smile on his face and a new smokeless bomb in the 
cupboard. 

Red Vest Tim fretted uneasily aud marked off 
each succeeding day, impatiently glancing mean- 
while and almost hourly at the unsuspected fire- 
works. 

******* 

Buttermilk Charley and Albert, the Boy Orator, 
were not yet out of the corral hospital whence they 
had gone as a result of their bloody combat. 

The blind pig was no more, but the incriminating- 
cherry was yet at large. 

Would Buttermilk Charley dare attend the round- 
up? 

As for Young Albert, he did not care. 

The timely assistance he had given Peaceful Bill 
showed where he stood. 

Any successor to Terrible Teddy suited him, so 

long as it was a large, portly man with a sense of 

gratitude. 

******* 

And the silent, dignified trapper from the far 

northwest, Badger Bob? 



The Round-Up 181 

In the silent and virgin wilderness of his chosen 
haunt he was accumulating what pelts he could and 
his valise was already packed. 

Evidently he meant to obtrude upon the round-up. 

But, as he trapped hastily here and there, with 
one eye on the calendar, he often murmured to 
himself: 

"Shell I ef I kin? Shell I ef I kin?" 

And the fragrant woods seemed to echo : 

"Efyekin! Ef ye kin." 

* * * # * * * 

Each morning as the heated days passed, the 
swart figure of a grizzled guide might have been 
seen slowly ascending to the margin of a coulee lo- 
cated on a small tributary of the Salt River, where 
it cuts into the wide expanse of the Free Range. 

It was Old Rich, the Veteran Guide, worn and 
wasted, hoping against hope, for the help he needed 
to get him onto the Range. 

In the coulee, his assistants, Taciturn Eli and 
Pittsburg Bill, sat disconsolate and idle. 

They had come to him highly recommended, but 
they had failed to deliver the goods. 

As often as Old Rich toiled to the higher ground 



1 82 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

and swept the horizon with his palm-shaded eyes, 
he descended again, morose and disconsolate. 

At last, too weak to make even this short climb, 
he took a board and with a dead ember of the camp 
fire made a rude sign. 

A few weeks later Terrible Teddy and Peaceful 
Bill, hastening to the coming round-up, passed that 
way. 

On the brink of the coulee this sign met their 
astonished gaze: 

"Wanted, immediately, a capable all-round guide, 
without previous experience. References not ex- 
changed. State Terms. Old Rich/' 

A glance at the coulee told all. 

"Help! water! help!" 

For a moment Peaceful Bill hesitated. 

Then, without a word, the two riders turned their 
horses' heads and rode swiftly away. 

Galloping hurriedly out of the timber adjacent 
to Salt River, Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 
suddenly came upon a weary and discouraged look- 
ing man fishing. 

It was Uncle Wesley Cornshucks, or Old Shucks, 



The Round-Up 183 

the Detective, angling in the muddy waters of the 
silvery stream. 

The man was not recognized at once, as he had 
temporarily laid off his disguise. 

But his nearby gum shoes betrayed him. 

"Old Shucks," kindly volunteered Peaceful Bill, 
"ef ye want work thar's a caravan stranded back 
yander. The' re a-lookin' fur help." 

"I been a-hopin' to ketch sompin," the well- 
known but apparently discouraged detective mut- 
tered, "an* mebbe I kin." 

"They won't exchange no references," added 
Terrible Teddy, as he and his companion plunged 
forward to ford the stream. 

"Teddy," exclaimed Peaceful Bill in midstream, 
as he cast a furtive look not unmixed with anx- 
iety at his companion, "I allow as how I'll mebbe 
hev to stake out a corral on this crick ef I don't 
get the job ye promised me." 

"Don't ye worry, pardner. Ye won't have to," 
replied Terrible Teddy. "Your man Hitch is on 
ahead with the big bomb, safe and sound. An 5 ef 
nothin' happens to it afore the Round-Up it's agoin' 
to make the real noise fur ye." 



184 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill 

"Pardner," huskily continued Peaceful Bill with 
a cloud of anxiety in his voice, "ye don't allow any- 
thing is agoin' to happen to it?" 

"I should say not!" was the quick, confident re- 
tort. "Hitch is a lot more carefuller about bombs 
sence what happened to Rough Deal George." 

As he spoke he jerked his reins to keep Big Stick 
from stopping to drink from so vile a stream and 
his jaws snapped together with a resounding clack. 

As our heroes looked back, reaching the further 
bank, they could just discern the figure of Old 
Shucks making tracks toward the guideless expedi- 
tion of Old Rich. 

******* 

Little more remains to be told. 
Certainly not enough for another chapter — until 
after the big Round-Up. 



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